Between 9-10 October 2025, Commonwealth Alumnus Michael Ntodie delivered a two-day training workshop to raise awareness of eye health for children with special needs in Ghana.
His activity coincided with World Sight Day (WSD), celebrated on 10 October and addressed the 2024 WSD theme, ‘Children, love your eyes’. Through his activity, Michael highlighted the importance of prioritising the visual health of children with special needs and reduce the prevalence of vision loss among children.
Michael Ntodie is an Optometrist and Senior Lecturer at University of Cape Coast.
His activity promoted the 2024/25 ACEF theme, Disability inclusion in institutions.
Understanding eye health concerns in children with special needs
Children with special needs, especially those with learning disabilities, are at a greater risk of vision impairment and eye problems as compared to other children. Children with special needs may not know they have sight problems and are less likely to be able to communicate concerns with their eye and vision health, impacting their development and wellbeing.
In Ghana, there is high prevalence of eye and vision disorders in children with special needs. Eye health disorders include cataract, uncorrected vision, amblyopia (lazy eyes), and strabismus (crossed-eyes) which can limit their inclusion and participation in educational, social and developmental activities.
Although there are special needs schools for children in Ghana, when it comes to health concerns, there are no similar provisions to access health services.
To reduce the prevalence of eye and vision problems in children with special needs, there is a need to train educators and carers to identify early signs of common vision problems and facilitate timely referrals to eye health clinics.
Basic concepts of eye and vision disorders
Michael organised a two-day training workshop at St Elizabeth’s Special Needs Day Care Centre, Cape Coast, Ghana. St Elizabeth’s Special Needs Day Care Centre is an institution for individuals with special needs, including children, offering services such as education, healthcare and advocacy.
Participants of the workshop
The workshop was attended by 35 teachers and carers, including those working in the nursing home facility of the Centre. All those in attendance represented important stakeholders and agents of change in improving their overall health and wellbeing. The workshop was pivotal in empowering participants to conduct eye health assessments for early detection of eye and vision problems, create a vision-friendly environment at the Centre, and strengthen collaborative relations between the staff and eye care professionals.
On 9 October, Michael launched the workshop with the key message, ‘spot it early, send it early’. These words highlighted the importance of early detection of eyes and visual disorders in children and the elderly with special needs to enable timely referrals to seek eye health services.
Michael Ntodie illustrating the anatomy of the eye to participants
Michael then delivered a presentation introducing information about the eyes and common disorders in people with special needs. This included information on the anatomy of the human eye, visual problems such as uncorrected refractive errors (short and long-sightedness), strabismus and amblyopia. Michael also discussed the need to create a vision-friendly environment for children with special needs to have their eyes and vision tested to alleviate anxiety.
During the Q&A, Michael encouraged participants to look out for signs of eye and vision disorders amongst those with special needs. He shared a list of eye care facilities in the region and directed participants to refer those with eye health problems to seek these services.
Celebrating World Sight Day
Practical demonstration of conducting basic eye test
Day two of the workshop marked World Sight Day. In his opening, Michael highlighted the 2024 theme, ‘Children, love your eyes’, reiterating the need to protect the vision of future generations.
Following an introductory awareness talk, Michael was joined by Esther Kyei, an optician, who led a practical training session on vision screening. To encourage activity participation, they set up a basic vision screening area for participants to explore ways in which vision tests can be conducted to spot vision disorders in children with special needs.
Participants were invited to take part in tests to check visual acuity and the external eye using a penlight. Through these demonstrations, participants gained practical skills on spotting vision problems through basic vision tests.
Fostering connections with eye health clinics
The workshop successfully promoted awareness of eye health for those with special needs. 63% of participants rated the lecture presentation ‘Very good’ and 98% indicated they could confidently apply the knowledge and skills gained during the workshop to test eye and vision disorders amongst individuals seeking services at St Elizabeth’s Centre.
Following the workshop, basic eye tests will be conducted by staff where they suspect vision issues and children with sight concerns will be referred to eye health clinics to seek timely eye treatments. Michael is keen to continue to work with staff at the Centre to review the implementation of basic vision screening tests. He intends to explore the potential of delivering similar workshops to teachers at both special needs and mainstream schools in the region.
Michale Ntodie is a 2012 Commonwealth Shared Scholar from Ghana. He completed an MSc in Public Health for Eye Care at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London.
