Saudi- 'Eye Spy' program checks vision of 13600 children

(MENAFN- Arab News) JEDDAH: The Ebsar Foundation for rehabilitation and vision impairment services has launched a program of early detection of vision problems in children.
Called 'Eye Spy 2020' the program was launched early this year in cooperation with the National Commission for Children.
Mohammad Towfik Bellow secretary-general of the foundation emphasized the importance of the national campaign to discover visual defects early in children.
Bellow said under the guidance of Abdullah bin Ahmed Al-Thaqafi the director general of education in Jeddah since the beginning of the 2015 in the 'Eye Spy' program more than 13600 children went through the program.
'Eye Spy' is a computer game used by specialists to determine whether a child needs corrective lenses or other treatment.
The foundation revealed in the Phase I report that among the children who participated in the program 30 percent were myopic 16 percent diagnosed with blepharitis 13 percent had deviation of the eye 8 percent were diagnosed with astigmatism 5 percent with amblyopia (lazy eye) 4 percent percent with dry eye syndrome and 1 percent with cataract. Twenty-one percent did not require any intervention at this time.
Dr. Hani Rehaily supervisor of the campaign said more than 13600 children have been checked where 27 percent of them were in need of medical treatment. He also emphasizes the importance of the national campaign in children's health and to identify the most common diseases.
Ahmad Mohamed Ali president of the board of Ebsar Foundation's management thanked the minister of social affairs on the concrete development of the charitable work by providing relief.
He warned of the significant rise in the number of children who need specialized treatment where the results thus far have shown that 3721 children are in need of treatment.
He also requested the Ministries of Education and Health for cooperation and support in the fight against blindness.
He said that this recently developed technology makes it easier to test visual activity depth perception and color vision in children.
The Kingdom is one of the first countries in the region using 'Eye Spy' technology to detect vision problems early in children. If a proper treatment is applied when the problem is still in its earliest stages it can stave off preventable childhood blindness.
This foundation confirmed the preparation for the launch of the second phase of the national campaign.
Until now the 'Eye Spy' program has been implemented in more than 360 schools in Jeddah Riyadh Alkhobar Madinah Abha and Tabuk.