Impact of Eye Care Intervention on Poverty Reduction in Katsina State

Background and Objective: With the establishment of the WHO Vision 2020, the right-to-sight intervention in 1999, efforts were made to improve eye care services globally.Therefore, this study measures the impact of eye care intervention on poverty reduction in Katsina State.The study tried to examine whether vision impairment is related to poverty.Materials and Methods: The study employed survey techniques using a 5-point Likert scale structured questionnaire.It randomly selects a sample of 5% of eye care intervention beneficiaries a population of more than 4000 from the Noor Dubai Foundation African program in Katsina State.Results: The beneficiaries with the initial least monthly income of $11.3 have experienced an improvement in their income to $113.4.This help to change the status of the beneficiaries that are below the current poverty line of $2.15 per day and move them out of the vision impairment-induced vicious circle of poverty.More so, the finding also suggested that eye care intervention in the form of cataract surgery and eye treatment reduced poverty through improvement in the measures of quality of life arising from the intervention which includes, productivity, income, employability, knowledge and skill and dignity after the cataract surgery.Conclusion: All the indicators of poverty have increased by an average of 91.8%.The policy implications of this study emphasize more on the government to collaborate with more NGOs on eye care intervention programs so as to reduce vision-induced poverty in the state.