Mbeya, Tanzania, 9 April 2015: Child eye health remains in focus in Tanzania as much needed optical equipment was handed over to local hospitals in three districts of Mbeya; Kyela, Ileje and Mbozi. This boost to the region is part of the East Africa Child Eye Health Project which has screened 250, 000 children between the ages of six and fifteen and more than 150, 000 children younger than five years old.
The equipment, funded by Standard Chartered Bank’s Seeing is Believing program includes auto-refractors, trial lens, slit lamps, universal trial frames, paediatric trial frames, stereo test acuity, retinoscopes of screening blocks, colour vision, vertical and horizontal prism bars and spectacle frames.
“We are very fortunate to receive this equipment,” said Dr Seif Mhina, Mbeya Regional Medical Officer. “Too many children live with vision impairment or blindness because of a lack of equipment, staff training and knowledge. This project not only trains health workers and teachers about child eye health, but also provides hospitals with the equipment necessary to provide the services. We are very grateful that we can improve the quality of life of our children and their educational performance,” he said.
The East Africa Child Eye Health Project aims to reduce the percentage of avoidable blindness and vision impairment among four million children between the ages of 0 and 15, by effecting changes in national policy and improving coordination of child eye health delivery in the regions. The project is being conducted in Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya by an eye care consortium led by Brien Holden Vision Institute.
Along with the equipment donated to the Mbeya region, last year as part of the World Sight Day celebrations two district hospitals in the Mwanza region also received eye care equipment. In addition to this, over 1200 health workers have received the training through the program in primary eye care, child eye health, vision screening and referral pathway procedures.
The CEO of Standard Chartered Bank, Tanzania Limited, Ms Liz Lloyd said, “Given the economic impact of avoidable blindness in the developing world, Standard Chartered Bank is delighted to fund the Seeing is Believing project to prevent avoidable blindness. We believe that the solution is alarmingly simple – an eye examination and appropriate spectacles would restore good vision to those with refractive error,” she said.
“Under this initiative, we have been working with eye care organisations in the fight against avoidable blindness for the past eleven years and we plan to continue doing so. We believe that the equipment donated in the Mbeya region will go a long way in curbing avoidable blindness in the region and in the country,” said Ms Lloyd.
Professor Kovin Naidoo, the Deputy CEO of the Brien Holden Vision Institute showed his appreciation for the funding and explained, “It is important to realise that the impact of blindness and vision impairment on children is far greater than for adults, as children have their whole lives before them. In terms of the impact on reducing years lived with disability, treating a child with avoidable blindness is, on average, equivalent to treating 10 adults with cataract surgeries.”