According to the Helen Keller International, (HKI), cataract alone was responsible for 600,00 cases of blindness in Nigeria.

The incidence of trachoma infections was also rampant in the northern zone of the country. Tracing the causes of blindness, NGO said, it was linked to the hygiene and sanitation practices of the people.

Besides, about 52 per cent of the burden of disease, disability and deaths in Nigeria was due to malnutrition, as per HKI. The organisation made these disclosures in Abuja at a donor-dialogue and press conference on South-South collaboration on population and development, packaged by the National Planning Commission, in conjunction with the country office of Partners in Population and Development.