Vale 4 Africa

Projects Vision 4 Africa School of Optometry and Benedictine Eye Hospital link Primary Care Networks Project Training Village Health Teams Motorcycle Ambulances

Benedictine Eye Hospital- School of Optometry link

Budget reduced from to Schillings Lost outreach programme Started charging for eye care treatment

Specific Issues – Teachers are unaware of differences in eye sight within classes – Local herbalists are often the first point of contact – Eye drops are usually bought as the treatment for every eye health issue – General misconception of professional eye care treatment – Local unqualified “opticians” may take money from patients without providing treatment

Our plans To take small groups of 2 Optometrists and 5 Optometry students for 2 week trips – They can help with refraction at BEH – Help take out equipment – Provide some training to staff – Provide support to re-establish the outreach programme The students will learn to refract those who have eye conditions that are rarely seen in the UK Valuable exercise for providing basic optometry requirements

Primary Care Networks Our link is with TOCIDA and the Gwara Gwara health centre II in the Kisoko sub-county of Tororo district Plan to train 31 Village Health Teams Some training has already been provided by PLAN international, and villagers are well informed about the benefits

Specific issues raised by the villagers Need for mobile phones Timetables for midwives and Health centres Contact details for midwives and doctors Representation of their status within there village Many villagers had already received some training Some people who had previously been trained found opposition from other villagers

Funding and sustainability Villagers have been asked to form a committee to arrange for collection of money to pay for running of motorcycle ambulances. Villagers were concerned about the possibility of misuse i.e. using MA’s to run errands. Specific equipment, like gloves and uniforms were requested

Next Steps In addition to the Optometry trip in Aug 3 GP’s will be going to help delivery some training. We are planning a trip in Nov/Dec with ambulance crew and midwives to help deliver training. On going recruitment of health workers onto the project.