PRIMARY LEVEL EYECARE TRAINING

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PRIMARY LEVEL EYECARE TRAINING
LOW VISION SERVICES IN AFRICA

• PALESA DUBE (ICEE)
• DEPUTY DIRECTOR AFRICA

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Introduction
INTRODUCTION

• Global Prevalence and incidence
• LV in Africa
• Existing Services
• Coverage
• Major Constraints
• Recent Developments

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GLOBAL PRVELANCE
GLOBAL PREVALENCE

• Global prevalence of blindness 35 Mil
• Global prevalence of low vision 105 Mil
• Global prevalence of true LV 60 Mil

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GLOBAL PREVALANCE
Global Prevalence
lt 6/18 Blindness plus Low Vision
95
5
True Blind (No perception of light)
Low Vision
75
25
True Low Vision in need of low vision care
In need of cataract surgery, refractive correction
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Prevalence of Blindness/Low Vision in Africa
PREVALENCE OF BLINDNESS/LOW VISION IN AFRICA

• Approx 1 African population is blind
  (gt3/60) 7.1 Million
• Prevalence of low vision 21.3 Million
• More women are blind than men (1.39)
• 300,000 children are blind/SVI
• 600,000 children are with low vision

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PREVALENCE AND CAUSES OF BLINDNESS AND LOW VISION

• Some studies done in African countries suggested
  the following prevalence and causes
• GHANA
• Prevalence of Blindness 1.7
• Prevalence of Low Vision 1.12.5
• Major causes Cataract and Cornea

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PREVALENCE AND CAUSES OF BLINDNES AND LOW VISION

• MALAWI
• Prevalence of Blindness 1.27
• Prevalence of Low Vision 2
• Major causes Cataract, Cornea and Glaucoma
• TANZANIA
• Prevalence of Blindness 1.26
• Prevalence of Low Vision 1.04
• Major causes Cataract, Trachoma, Cornea and
  Glaucoma

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Service Delivery Models in Africa
SERVICE DELIVERY MODELS IN AFRICA

• Scattered and unavailable in most countries
• 5 patterns of service
• Hospital based
• School based
• University based
• NGO based
• Independent

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Existing Low Vision Services
EXISTING LOW VISION SERVICES

• Countries where low vision services have started
  or starting
• Swaziland, Madagascar, Malawi, Zambia, Uganda,
  Tanzania, Rwanda, Nigeria, Sierra Lione, Gambia,
  Cameroon, Ethiopia
• Services in the remaining countries are patchy to
  non-existent

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NATIONAL FOCAL PERSONS COURSE

• The objective of the training programme is to
  prepare selected personnel to fulfil this role in
  the National context.
• The role of the National Focal Persons (NFP) at
  national level would include working with
  National Vision 2020 Committees, advocacy,
  coordination and networking
• Planning for HRD, infrastructure and equipment
  needs for the low vision services, monitoring and
  evaluation.
• 22 people where trained from 15 Countries.

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Coverage
COVERAGE

• Low Vision Devices supplied from LVRC, Hong Kong
  to various programmes in Africa in 2005
• 6,222
• Assuming that same number of devices were
  acquired from other sources
• 12,444

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Coverage
COVERAGE

• Assuming that same number of devices were
  dispensed to the persons with low vision
• Estimated total need is 3,162,340
• Coverage lt0.5

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Major Constraints
MAJOR CONSTRAINTS

• Severe shortage of trained human resource
• Cost involved
• Coverage
• Quality of service
• Accessibility
• Acceptability
• Sustainability

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ACCESS TO DEVICES
ACCESS TO LOW VISION DEVICES

• Currently most countries are sourcing devices
  form HKSB
• ICEE has established a global resource centre
  that works very closely with HKSB to increase
  affordability and reduce delivery time in Africa
• The devices will be accessible from GRC and can
  be ordered through the website

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Conclusions
CONCLUSION

• There is a need to increase low vision HR to
  solve this problem
• A multidisciplinary approach is required as no
  one cadre can do this alone
• Existing cadres and new cadres will have to be
  trained to provide the services
• Ensure access to affordable devices

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• THANK YOU