Mr Mgubo
During a routine eye examination at an ICEE Outreach Clinic in Tongaat, South Africa in March this year, Professor Brien Holden discovers that 80-year-old Mr Mgubo has lived through a lifetime of very low distance vision.
The problem for people like Mr Mgubo is that while 85% of the population in South Africa relies on public health care; only 2% of optometrists work in the public sector. This means there are only around 50 optometrists to meet the needs of 38 million mainly poor people living in rural areas. That is one optometrist for every 760,000 patients. As a result, many people living in rural areas have never seen an eye care professional. In fact 80% of school-going children with uncorrected refractive error do not have the glasses they need, they struggle through school and of course their future is severely restricted – simply for lack of an eye examination and a pair of glasses.
The ‘Vision for a Country: The National Refractive Error Program for South Africa’ project is one of Optometry Giving Sight’s priority programs. Donations from optometrists and their patients will be used to help fund the development of 24 new clinics throughout the country. It is estimated that nearly 100,000 additional people will have access to services once these sites are fully operational. Longer term, the program will achieve sustainability through training of primary eye care personnel, the establishment of outreach clinics and eye care delivery systems, and the distribution and sale of affordable spectacles.
