Bringing Low vision Services for children closer to the Community Elizabeth Kishiki (MPH) Childhood Blindness and Low Vision Coordinator

Purpose and rationale To integrate low vision services with the available eye care. Improve educational services for visually impaired children Low vision care was limited to tertiary hospitals Few children could access the services Skills in low vision among the optometrists were limited Low vision devices were not found outside tertiary hospitals PurposeRationale for the project

Capacity building Regional eye coordinators (7 regions) Optometrists at regional hospitals (8 optometrists) General classroom teachers Special needs education teachers (156 teachers in 13 annexes) Teacher trainers and trainees (Patandi) and trainers Expansion of the project in 2010 one more region was added with training of District Special Needs Education Officer

Results Services integrated in 8 regions More children being assessed 13%-82% More children are using print 51%-79% Improved collaboration between teachers and optometrists

Conclusion More education is needed among teachers Collaboration and annual assessment for VI children will depend on the efforts within MoH and MoE