UK optometrists treat Sierra Leone school children

A team of six UK optometrists will support refraction clinics for 5,000 secondary school children across Sierra Leone in October and November, in partnership with Vision Aid and Innovations for Poverty Action project. 

The overseas aid project is part of a study to measure the difference vision correction can make to educational outcomes, which aimed to provide evidence to the government for the need for a national school vision screening programme. 

Optometrists Sarah Dineen, Kristina Chapman, Ruth Davies, Claire Allen, Insiyah Bharmal and Hiromi Yee will travel to a new school each day.  

Judith Trigg, volunteer programme lead at Vision Action, said: ‘There are presently not enough qualified eye health workers in Sierra Leone to carry out the vast number of refractions at the schools required by this project, whilst keeping the vision centres open to meet the needs of the community seeking eye care, therefore using professional volunteers is a great solution to increase capacity for this research project.’