VISION AID OVERSEAS

COMMUNITY BASED EYE SCREENING FOR LESS ENDOWED COMMUNITIES IN AFRICA (Ghana)

It is true,as its commonly said " the eye is the window to the soul". Without a healthy eye the life looses  it's colour and beauty. quality of life is influenced by vision.A good vision is important for both behavioral development and the entire function of most living creatures.Many countries have promoted vision screening to detect retroactive errors and other ocular disorders as part of their healthcare programs.For developed countries as early as before preschool age.For developing countries as late no eye check up from birth till death.the gap here is wide.

There is limited evidence about the quality of vision care in developing therefore,as part of the Annual Vision Aid Overseas (VAO) program to screen for refractive and non refractive ocular conditions in Africa.vision aid overseas is a United Kingdom based Non Governmental Organization.i am a Volunteer for the year 2017.

Goals:

• To detect refractive errors and non refractive ocular conditions in less endowed communities 
• To detect and refer cases with systemic conditions with ocular manifestion 

Train and educate people on how to detect and treat simple eye conditions at home and emergency eye care procedures.

Activities :

Teach chiefs,Assembly men,and local people to be agents of change for healthy eyes in their families and communities.

Objectives:

• Train optometry students in screening vision at 6/9-6/12 level and simple eye examination procedures in clinic and field 
• Recording VA,refraction and best corrected VA in those who fail the screening.
• Prescribing and dispensing free drugs,and spectacles to people who fulfill the proscribing guidelines 
• Referring  people whose vision does not improve with refraction,who have any eye anormalies or may need cycloplegic refraction.
• Assessing near acuity in the old people(40 and over ) using standard methods   dispensing NEAR READING SPECTACLES if needed.
• Referral for cataract surgery (Majority )
• Children to seek mothers consent for the need for yearly comprehensive eye exam (majority)

Counseling and referring all patients known to have emergency eye disorders and systemic medical conditions for a general body examination by a general physician.

Outcome/Impact:

My remark is  that Ghana needs more screening        to save more from going blind.

Out of about  1000 in a 4 -day outreach.more than 60% needed spectacles.Only 20% received spectacles and 40% did not receive.

For the aged(above 40) Cataract was the most common case seen,followed by Glaucoma.Reasons according to the patients for low cataract surgical rate was: A misconception leading to a heightened fear  towards cataract surgery and lack of accessibility to the healthcare centres and financial constraints.
For the young (below 40), refraction errors accounted for more than 80 % of the cases with most common age groups between 5-20 years.
Majority of the people are surreptitiously identified with refractive conditions. Many have never visited eye centre since birth resulting in more harm done to the eye,if any.

Recommendations :
The integration of a free compulsory vision screening at the hospital(at birth) and before pre - school will go a long way to avert future blindness  in the majority of people.

Note:If possible remember to get your eyes checked by your eye Doctor for at least once a year.