An Integrated Approach To Eye Care
One thing that makes Optometry Giving Sight unique is that it is purely a fundraising organization. Another is that we only raise funds from within the optometric industry. We distribute 85% of all funds raised in the name of Optometry to sustainable projects which give sight. These projects are implemented by approved and experienced International Non Government Development Organizations (INGDOs).
The International Centre for Eyecare Education (ICEE) is one such INGDO. It delivers programs that address refractive error and low vision – and it specializes in training eye care personnel, supplying glasses and developing sustainable infrastructure for communities in the developing world and to Indigenous communities in Australia.
ICEE is responsible for implementing 2 of our priority projects – Giving Sight in South Africa and Giving Sight in Sri Lanka.
These are complex programs that involve the input of many stakeholders and a key challenge, according to ICEE’s COO Amanda Davis, is to ensure an integrated approach involving connected levels of eye care, training of mid level personnel and significant community involvement. To this end, ICEE - like many other INDGOs - work within a framework in which all the stakeholders are linked to one another, as illustrated in the accompanying pyramid diagram that shows medical leadership at the top and community participation forming the foundation.
The pyramid model was originally refined by the L.V. Prasad Eye Institute in Hyderabad, India and is currently recognized by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness as the accepted model of eye care in India.
Forming the peak of the pyramid, a “centre of excellence” is able to coordinate and support the other levels. Secondary centres, serving populations of 500,000, focus on simple surgical procedures, such as cataract surgery.
For more complicated procedures, patients can be referred to a “tertiary eye care centre” which is a much larger hospital serving a broader region and providing a variety of health care training programs for professional and paraprofessional staff.
For ICEE, however, the greater focus is at the “primary” eye care level. They plan to build 102 vision centres and optical workshops over the coming 3 years in both South Africa and Sri Lanka and to train 700 local people as Vision Technicians. Each centre will serve about 50,000 people and provide primary care and referral to the secondary centres for surgical care.
