A health campaign slated to begin at the end of the month is targeting more than 500 people with eye diseases in Pibor.

The Director of Eye Services at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Ali Ngor, says this will be the second time such operations are conducted in the area.

He says the last campaign was done in March, in which 300 patients were treated of various eye diseases.

“Pibor is a very big area; in our plan, we are going to have an eye camp either in Gumruk or in Buma and we will decide in the few coming weeks or month to go there,” Dr Ngor said.

The campaign is supported by the office of the president and development partners.

The prevalence of blindness in South Sudan in general is 8.3-9.8% which is unacceptably high and certainly much higher than the Sub-Saharan Africa average, according to surveys.

The main causes of blindness are cataract, trachoma and onchocerciasis (river blindness).