M y column in November focused on the role of Vision 2020 in the UK but our problems look insignificant beside a total of over 300 million around the world who are visually impaired of whom 90 per cent live in developing countries.
Of that figure, half simply need a refraction and a pair of spectacles. Even more shocking is that 75 per cent of this is avoidable. In addition to the 300 million there are around another 100 to 300 million presbyopes in need of a pair of spectacles to allow them to continue to work and feed their families. And believe it or not it was only in 2004 that the World Health Organisation included refractive error on its list of the major causes of visual impairment.
Stories of the almost miraculous achievements of volunteer groups abound but perhaps the most moving of these was the work in a school for the blind in Malawi. Of the 120 children there, only 6 per cent were blind 29 per cent just needed glasses to see well 22 per cent had normal vision and needed some other eye complaint attended to and 43 per cent had permanently impaired vision that required low vision assistance. It is situations like this that are driving the international optical professions to look at how they can increase the impact of their humanitarian work. When Australian optometrists went to Sri Lanka to replace spectacles lost in the tsunami they also found large numbers who had had no previous access to eye care.
For decades the public conscience has been salved by the donation of used spectacles and the work of groups of optometrist volunteers providing what help they could on an occasional basis. While this approach still has value in some situations, the world has moved on. It is no longer socially acceptable to hand out used spectacles and research has shown that these are often not worn for long. The emphasis today is on the development of sustainable projects which will provide long-term solutions to the provision of primary eye care services. Education is critical to this programme the experience in Malawi has stimulated a programme to build regional optometry schools in Africa to train eye care workers. Resource centres have been established to supply prescription spectacles at very affordable prices using product from China.
These are just two examples of what is possible provided that funding can be raised. In the UK Vision Aid Overseas has made valuable contribution but the scale of the challenge is an international one. Optometry Giving Sight, a collaboration between the World Optometric Foundation, the International Centre for Eye Care Education and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, has contributed $1m to refractive error projects in 2007. The future lies in co-operation between national and international non governmental organisations. That future depends on the support given by practitioners and patients in the UK and around the world. Why not make a New Year resolution to sign up to support their work? ?