ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion
This article is part of the Research TopicTelemedicine in Ophthalmology: Cost-Effectiveness and Barriers to Widespread Adoption.View all 4 articles
Glaucoma Detection Training of Community Healthcare Workers Using Portable Devices in Nigeria
Provisionally accepted
Farouk Garba1,2*
Winifred Nolan1,3
Matthew John Burton1Victor H. Hu1Ajefu Rose Ada4Kenneth Ezurike4Micheal Ochefu Ajefu4Fatima Kyari4,5- 1International Centre for Eye Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK, London, United Kingdom
- 2Department of Ophthalmology, College of Medical Sciences, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
- 3NIHR Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre, London, United Kingdom
- 4University of Abuja College of Health Sciences, Abuja, Nigeria
- 5Institute for Medical Research and Training, University of Abuja, Abuja, Nigeria
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Background: Glaucoma, an irreversible blinding eye disease caused by optic nerve damage, remains a major public health challenge in sub-Saharan Africa, where it occurs earlier and progresses more aggressively than in other regions. Accessibility and affordability remain major barriers to timely diagnosis and treatment in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). Purpose: To assess the ability of community health workers (CHWs) without prior ophthalmic training to use portable diagnostic tools for early detection and referral of possible glaucoma cases in Abuja, Nigeria. Methods: This feasibility study was conducted from June to September 2024 in three community health centres in Abuja. Fifteen CHWs (14 females, 1 male) were trained over three days using didactic lectures, practical demonstrations, and hands-on sessions on four portable devices: PEEK Acuity, iCare tonometer, Eyecatcher visual field analyser, and Remidio handheld fundus camera. Pre-and post-training assessments were conducted, with an 80% pass mark required. A simplified scoring system based on test findings guided referral decisions. Results: All CHWs achieved scores of 80% or higher post-training, showing significant improvement in glaucoma knowledge and testing proficiency. Initial challenges with the iCare tonometer and fundus camera improved with practice. Conclusion: Community health workers can effectively use portable diagnostic tools for glaucoma screening and referral in primary care settings. Their involvement could enhance early detection and contribute substantially to reducing glaucoma-related blindness in resource-limited settings.
Keywords: Community Health Workers, detection, Glaucoma, Nigeria, training
Received: 05 Nov 2025; Accepted: 08 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Garba, Nolan, Burton, Hu, Ada, Ezurike, Ajefu and Kyari. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Farouk Garba
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.