GHANA – Nanodropper, a medical device company offering a first-of-its-kind eyedrop bottle adaptor to reduce medication waste, has joined forces with Unite For Sight, an international nonprofit focused on providing quality eyecare to patients living in poverty, to launch a global health initiative aimed at providing better access to vision-saving medications in Ghana.
The initiative will allow the public to donate Nanodroppers to Unite for Sight partner clinics in Ghana at $9 per adaptor, a substantially lower price than retail value.
The Nanodropper easily twists on to eyedrop bottles and reduces the waste from a typical eyedrop, which are about five times too large (40 to 50 microliters) for the eye to absorb.
A drop from a bottle using a Nanodropper adaptor reduces the drop size by about 70 percent (10 to 15 microliters, depending on the type of medication), eliminating waste but not affecting the dose of medication that actually makes it into the eye.
In 2020, the national average prevalence of vision impairment in Ghana was 5%. This includes the 0.9% of the population who were blind.
The principal causes of blindness were cataract (54.8%), glaucoma (19.4%), posterior segment diseases (13.0%), and corneal opacity (11.0%).
However, the five main causes of moderate to severe visual impairment were refractive error (44.4%), cataract (42.2%), posterior segment diseases (9.0%), glaucoma (2.0%), and corneal opacity (2%).
“The Ghana Program aims to serve individuals in remote rural villages, living in extreme poverty,” said Amy Davis, Executive Director of Unite for Sight.
By utilizing Nanodroppers in their eye clinics, ophthalmologists will eliminate the waste of critical eyedrop medications and make every bottle last 3-4 times longer, meaning they can serve 3 times as many patients per bottle of medication, Amy said.
Unite for Sight partners with local eye clinics in Ghana, Honduras, and India to identify community-specific barriers that impede effective eyecare delivery, and develops strategies to overcome barriers through sustainable systems of care.
The reduced financial and physical burden brought about by Nanodroppers will motivate patients to use their drops and increase compliance.
This translates into more glaucoma patients having their eye pressure controlled and reducing the risk of blindness.