Today is World Sight Day and the ideal time to share an update on a outreach clinic that took place in June.
Children at the six primary schools we support have all have their eyes tested for free, and even better, nine other schools within the Kachere Primary Education Advisor’s (PEA’s) zone have welcomed the team of trainee optometrists too.
Funded by Canadian Vision Care, this is the second outreach visit they have done in the area, previously visiting in 2017.
The trainee optometrists are part of the Eye See to Learn Project and during the outreach, they split into teams so they were able to carry out as many eye tests as possible. Across the five days, they saw 3,430 pupils.
Conjunctivitis has been an issue in Malawi and of the 701 recorded as having an ‘eye complaint’, more than 180 had some form of conjunctivitis. The optometrist team gave over 420 children, advice on eye health and hygiene and just over 100 children were sent home with eye drops and other solutions to manage eye complaints.
We are grateful that 31 students whom needed glasses, received them, and a further 35 were referred for other investigations, treatments and surgery. It was noted that 15 of those seen had cataract.
Grace Ogbonna, an optometrist, led the team. She said, “We met one child who had no vision in his left eye and barely enough vision in his right eye not to be certified blind. Upon refracting him, we discovered that with a pair of glasses he can see as good as 20/20. This was one of our greatest achievements. We put a smile on his Mum’s face and the boy said he could now see the world better.”
Grace continued, “We spent five days in Nkhata Bay District and despite some of the challenges reaching these rural schools, it is important to promote eye care services through school eye health programs. Through collaborative efforts, children’s vision can be improved.”
It was also noted that a number of children had vitamin A deficiency. Our orange-fleshed sweet potato project aims to help address this complaint so we will continue to ensure parents receive the education around the importance of a healthy and balanced diet, and the importance of eating the sweet potatoes with the skin on!
Speaking to the PEA, Glory Banda, she said, “I am very grateful to have this kind of activity in my zone. This will assist many learners in terms of eye sight and subsequently, help with their classwork.”