DISTRIBUTION OF OCULAR DISEASES AMONG RURAL DWELLERS IN ORJI, OWERRI NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, IMO STATE.

The incidence and prevalence of poor vision and blindness in the world, especially among the rural communities is on the increase. This has led to the WHO/IAPS-driven “Vision2020 right to sight: “global initiative against blindness in rural communities, aimed at reducing global blindness to the barest level by the year 2020. A retrospective descriptive study on distribution of ocular diseases among rural dwellers of Orji, a rural community in Owerri North local government area of imo state, was done using 141 patients, 64 were males and 77 were females of age range 4-85 years. Findings were captured in a pre-designed data sheet for analysis using frequency, percentage frequencies and bar chart. Materials used where Snellen’s chart, refraction lens, boxes, ocluder, pen touch, latex gloves, sphygmonometers and ophthalmoscopes. In conclusion, this study showed a relatively high prevalence of allergic conjunctivitis ( 56.03%) and least prevalence of glaucoma, (0.71%). Ocular diseases were found to be higher in the females (54.61%) than the males (45.39%). It is therefore recommended that various ocular disease should be treated in rural areas in Nigeria to meet the objectives of vision 2020. Result for the p-value: 0.0014.