Sri Lanka

The Challenge

Over 500,000 people lost their homes due to the devastating tsunami, December 2004.

The December 2004 tsunami that struck Sri Lanka highlighted the desperate need of people on this island nation for quality health care - including eye care. This country of 20 million people has experienced years of civil war that have left many areas underserved by health and other social services, including more than 300,000 refugees, or internally displaced people. The tsunami that engulfed 70 percent of Sri Lanka's northern, eastern and southern coastlines resulted in another half million displaced people in these areas.

Coordinated by the International Centre for Eyecare Education (ICEE), eye examinations and glasses were provided in some of the hardest hit regions to address the immediate needs of the many tsunami victims. In providing this care, the team of volunteer optometrists discovered that those who were deprived of vision correction were outnumbered many times over by those who had never had any vision care and had no foreseeable chance of receiving any.

One reason for the lack of quality vision care in Sri Lanka is the scarcity of trained eye care professionals. Reports are that in one region alone, there is only one trained optician and one ophthalmologist serving a population of approximately 1.3 million people. In addition, the cost of a pair of glasses is way beyond the reach of most people in this country. It is estimated that up to 25 percent of the population need vision correction and have no access to it.

The Optometry Giving Sight Answer

Going forward, Optometry Giving Sight is committed to continuing to fund programs like this one in Sri Lanka that focus on the following areas:

Service delivery - providing eye examinations, glasses, and referrals for other vision-related conditions;
Capacity building - empowering local communities to control and direct eye care activities in a sustainable and comprehensive manner which includes human resource development, the creation of local eye care infrastructure, and ensuring an affordable supply of glasses:
- Human Resource development - training local personnel to deliver primary eye care services to the population is already underway;
- Establishment of eye care infrastructure - the goal is to establish vsion centres in several areas of the country that will be staffed by these trained, local refractionists;
- Ensuring a supply of affordable glasses - an effective procurement, distribution and supply system for glasses will be established for the work in Sri Lanka.

As a result of funding from Optometry Giving Sight and others, more than 33,000 individuals have already been examined, with more than 28,000 receiving primary eye care and glasses. Another 1,600 of those examined were referred to an ophthalmologist for further treatment for other conditions. Of the 28,000 people receiving glasses, 75 percent had never had their eyes examined.

In Sri Lanka most health care, including eye care, is almost
non-existent.

The establishment of sustainable, quality eye care delivery is continuing in the tsunami affected areas and other traditionally underserved parts of the country, as well as in a newly identified region in need. During the current work in Sri Lanka, our partners were made aware of the plight of the tens of thousands of plantation workers in the tea estates of Sri Lanka's Hill Country where most health care, including eye care, is almost non-existent. Earning just over a dollar a day for extremely difficult, physical work, these women rely on their vision to do their jobs and are often the primary source of income for their families.

In response to the desperate need of this part of the population, a team of optometrists has already gone to Sri Lanka to provide eye examinations and glasses to the first group of these workers. Future expansion of the program into the tea region of the country is expected to include additional service delivery as well as all aspects of capacity building.

Partners:

International Centre for Eyecare Education (ICEE)
Centre for Health Care, Sri Lanka
Australian Medical Aid Foundation
World Council of Optometry
International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB)
The Australian Tsunami Alliance
Optometrists Association Australia
London City Tsunami Foundation
International Resources for the Improvement of Sight (IRIS)

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