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Lifestyle could be causing myopia in children says Nadda
Research shows that by 2050, almost half the world’s population will be suffering from myopia. Changing lifestyle could be the key reason for myopia in children today. Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda has initiated measures to identify and treat refraction problems in school itself.
A lifestyle revolving around screens is contributing to increasing incidence of myopia among school children and about 4% of them already suffer from refractive problems, shared Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, J P Nadda. Observing that myopia was treatable, the Health Minister informed the Lok Sabha that various steps are being taken to treat the disease at an early stage, including training school teachers to identify common eye ailments, which are caused by genetic as well as lifestyle factors.
These days, time spent by children outdoors has decreased and they are more into using laptops and video games, he said during Question Hour. Over the past 3 years, screening of 8.72 crore school children done under the National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB) found that around 31 lakh or 3.9 per cent of them had "refractive errors", including myopia."It (myopia) is treatable and we are seeing to it that facilities are developed in this regard," Nadda said, adding that studies conducted among school children in Delhi have shown an increase in the prevalence of myopia by almost 5.7 per cent.
Citing a recent research article in the American Academy of Ophthalmology Journal, which has predicted that there would be 4,758 million people with myopia (49.8 per cent of the world population) and 938 million people with high myopia (9.8 per cent of the world population) by 2050, Nadda pointed out the seriousness of the situation and how it was essential to introduce control measures right at the school level.
Image Courtesy: @JPNadda