Official government website of the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 
The study prepared by Dr. Yousef Al-Dabasi, a faculty member at the university, and presented its results during the "Community Eye Health" seminar held yesterday, Sunday, by the Department of Optometry at the College of Applied Medical Sciences at the university, revealed the high prevalence of visual defects in more than 20 schools in Buraydah and the rest of Qassim governorates, after the medical examination of children for more than 5,000 male and female students. It was found that the prevalence of visual defects is 18% among male and female students and the prevalence of uncorrected visual defects is 16%, indicating that this rate is considered very high when compared with studies in the rest of the world, as well as the prevalence of lazy eye 4%.
To address these vision issues, Dr. Saifuddin Rashid, a faculty member at the Department of Optometry, presented his research paper in which he presented a treatment plan for eye diseases in developing countries. The study developed a comprehensive plan for prevention and treatment of eye diseases, and concluded that uncorrected refractive errors are the leading cause of visual impairment among school students.
Under the patronage of His Excellency Dr. Abdulrahman bin Hamad Al-Dawood, UQU President, and with the participation of 12 speakers from inside and outside the university, the symposium discussed a number of important topics related to eye health and safety at Hall B in the main lobby of the University City, in conjunction with World Sight Day, which falls on October 10 of each year.
Dr. Sulaiman Al-Dakhil, a faculty member at the college, participated in the seminar with his research paper on controlling myopia, which is considered one of the most common visual disorders around the world, referring to the growing concern that existed about the increase in the prevalence of myopia during the last half century, as both genetic and environmental factors play an important role in the developmental process of the human eye, and many studies have shown the impact of environmental factors, specifically reading, on the onset of myopia.
In his paper, Dr. Majid Maafa, Director of Optometry Clinics, presented statistics on the visit of optometry clinics to 57 primary schools in the Qassim region, during which 10879 students were examined, and 1309 students were followed up in university optometry clinics who were found to have vision issues and need medical follow-up. He also pointed out that during the past year, five thousand beneficiaries were served through all the various community service programs, and that the service was provided to five thousand beneficiaries.
Dr. Mohammed Al-Luwaimi, a faculty member at the college, said that glaucoma is a chronic eye disease, defined as a group of chronic disorders leading to blindness, which cannot be cured, but what remains of vision is preserved after the disease, and glaucoma poses a threat to community health as it is a disease that is difficult to diagnose and is in advanced stages when it is detected.
Dr. Manzoor Qureshi answered the question, "Why do we care about retinal screening?" He said: Detecting retinal issues early helps prevent vision loss, especially since vision lost due to retinal issues may never return, and regular retinal screening helps to start treatment in time before vision loss.
Dr. Vishakh Nair spoke about diabetic retinopathy, which is a microvascular complication characteristic of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Dr. Vishakh Nair spoke about diabetic retinopathy, a microvascular complication characteristic of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, and Dr. Godwin Ovincere spoke about severe low vision, noting that globally approximately 1.3 billion people live with some form of visual impairment and in terms of distance vision, 188.5 million people have moderate vision impairment, 217 million have severe vision impairment, 36 million are blind, and in terms of near vision, 826 million people live with near vision impairment.
Globally, the leading causes of visual impairment are refractive errors and cataracts, nearly 80% of all visual impairment globally is avoidable, and the majority of people with visual impairment are over the age of 50.
After that, Dr. Waleed Al-Ghamdi, Head of the Department of Optometry at the University, spoke about the challenges and aspirations for community eye health, during which he presented an overview of community eye health in the Kingdom and its position in the fight against blindness and visual impairment globally, as well as the necessary priorities to improve eye health and control the high rates of visual impairment.
Dr. Shahzad Naro, a visiting professor from Aston University in the UK, also spoke about the impact of lifestyle on eye health and unhealthy habits that have a direct impact on eye health such as poor nutrition and smoking, as the study concluded that smoking has a direct impact on the eye, especially in the outer part of the eye, and in the tear layer that works to protect the eye, and also smoking has an impact on the adaptive power of the eye, and the study recommended educating the community about the impact of smoking on the eye, as well as taking enough food containing omega-3.
In his paper titled Strategies for Combating Blindness in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Dr. Yahya Abu Haidar, National Coordinator of the National Committee to Combat Blindness (LA'A), talked about the establishment of the National Committee to Combat Blindness and its role in society, charitable associations related to blindness and their role in supporting the blind, as well as the national indicators issued by the World Health Organization and the need to develop plans to implement them, in addition to the role of all government and private entities in implementing the eye health strategy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The Community Eye Health Symposium concluded with a number of recommendations: Activating primary eye health care where support and tools are available for this work; giving optometrists and doctors of optometry their full role in the health system so that they can do their work more effectively, especially in primary care centers; redistributing the number of optometrists and doctors of optometry to hospitals and health centers in proportion to the number of patients and visitors to each health facility; and activating screening programs and campaigns for chronic eye diseases, which in turn leads to reducing the value of treatment and improving the quality of life, which is one of the most important goals of Vision 2030.
