Resources

Documents Download

China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission presented a new 5-year National Plan for Eye Health in late October 2016, which calls on government agencies and partners to work together and extend action in the lead-up to 2020.

The plan calls for the expansion of optical and optometric services in China and a focus on refractive error in children. In many Chinese cities, rates of myopia among school-aged children are high and research has urged new public health solutions to prevent and treat refractive error. Action on diabetic eye disease, retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and low vision is also part of the plan.

Documents Download

Up to 16 Million Americans Have Uncorrected Vision Impairment; Report Calls for Transformation in Population Health Efforts to Eliminate Correctable and Avoidable Vision Impairments by 2030. In 2014, the Health and Medicine Division of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a multidisciplinary committee to “examine the core principles and public health strategies to reduce visual impairment and promote eye health in the United States,” including short- and long-term strategies to prioritize eye and vision health through collaborative actions across a variety of topics, settings, community stakeholders, and levels of government. This report proposes a population health action framework to guide action and coordination among various—and sometimes competing—stakeholders in pursuit of improved eye and vision health and health equity in the United States. This report also introduces a population-health approach that promotes eye and vision health far beyond the clinical setting, with an emphasis on minimizing preventable and uncorrected impairment. It also a model for action that highlights different levels of prevention activities across a range of stakeholders and provides specific examples of how population health strategies can be translated into cohesive areas for action at federal, state, and local levels.

You can find out more, here: http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/Reports/2016/making-eye-health-a-population-health-imperative-vision-for-tomorrow.aspx

Documents Download

The team acknowledges with deep gratitude the many officers of the Federal Ministry of Health, Education, Women’s Affairs, and the NPHCD Agency, WHO country office, UNICEF Abuja for sparing the time for the face to face meetings and for being so very receptive and enthusiastic. Special mention is made of Dr R Oguntoyinbo and Mr Kassim of WHO office who fixed appointments for us.  It would not have been possible without the preliminary arrangements and the participation by Dr Olobio of the National Eye Health Programme and Dr Aghaji of the NPHCD agency. The team acknowledges with a deep sense of loss the demise of Dr Onyebuchi, the National Coordinator of the NEHP, during the field work in Abuja.

Documents Download

The purpose of the situational analysis was firstly to review the East Africa experience and deduce lessons to be shared with Nigeria. Secondly in Nigeria, it was to give an overview of existing and potential partners for a consortium approach, provide an overview of resources available to the health and education sectors in key states and make recommendations for priority areas for investment in the development of comprehensive child eye health services including relevant eye care services for within the education and disability sectors.

The study was conducted in 2015 by a three-member team using mainly questionnaires, face to face meetings, review of documents, information on web sites and email correspondence. Based on prior SiB and NGOs projects, presence of tertiary child eye health centres (TCEHC) and the SCB foot print, nine states were selected for field visits and in depth study. Information was collected from key stakeholders- partners, service delivery and training institutions, ministries and international agencies; with a special focus on children, their eye health, education and disability.

Documents Download

Some 30% of Shanghai’s 18.9 million citizens (2008) are migrants. Children aged 17 years and younger account for 10.5% of the total population, and 600,000 of these are migrant children without medical insurance. According to a pediatric eye health survey conducted by Shanghai Eye Diseases Prevention & Treatment Center in 2009, 35% of school-aged children in Shanghai had visual acuity < 6/9, indicating over 660,000 children with visual impairment. Migrant children and those dwelling in the city’s poorer districts are without access to affordable, high-quality eye care.

Uncorrected refractive error accounts for over 90% of visual disability among children in urban China. It has been demonstrated that in many areas half of secondary school children require glasses, and yet some two-thirds of these either do not have or wear them, or have spectacles of such poor quality that they do not improve the vision adequately. Failure to provide children with a simple pair of accurate glasses can inhibit their ability to function well in the classroom. Though strabismus (squint) and amblyopia (lazy eye) typically do not cause bilateral blindness, they are very common among Chinese children, in part because of high rates of uncorrected refractive error. These conditions, which are typically not covered by Chinese health insurance, often go untreated, and may be associated with significant social stigma and reduced future work opportunities. Although an eye disease prevention network exists in Shanghai, pediatric eye services are rarely available at the district or community level, where they are most critically needed for early detection and referral. The high price of medical treatment in Shanghai makes eye care service unaffordable for migrant families lacking health insurance coverage, and for poor patients native to the city.

Documents Download