Humanitarian
Primary eye health care in low- and middle-income countries
The need for eyecare services in low- and middle-income countries Recent global estimates (2020) suggest that there is more than a three-fold difference in the prevalence of all categories of visual loss (presenting visual acuity <6/12 in the better eye)...
The Diabetic Eye Screening Programme in Tanzania - The VISION 2020 LINK between Dodoma and Belfast
Rahila Bashir, Senior Remote Ophthalmic Research Image Grader, talks to Frank Sandi, Ophthalmologist at the Benjamin Mkapa Hospital (BMH), University of Dodoma in Tanzania and to Tunde Peto at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) and Belfast Health and Social Care Trust...
VISION 2020 LINKS Programme and DR-NET World Sight Day Workshop
World Sight Day (WSD) was celebrated globally on 8 October 2020 [1]. From Australia and the Pacific to the Americas, via Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, awareness-raising and advocacy activities took place throughout the day, to focus attention on unnecessary...
6.6.2020 – a celebration of international partnerships
The date 6.6.2020 was selected as a significant milestone for celebrating the achievements of the VISION LINKS Programme as part of the global ‘VISION 2020: The Right to Sight’ initiative [1]. This virtual full-day seminar included LINK partners in the...
Development of paediatric ophthalmology services in Malawi: the VISION 2020 LINK between Blantyre and Glasgow
A VISION 2020 LINK was established in 2005 between the Lions Sight First Eye Hospital (LSFEH) in Blantyre, Malawi (part of the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital) with Glasgow’s Royal Hospital for Children to help to develop a paediatric ophthalmic service...
South-South collaboration for the treatment of avoidable blindness in Botswana
This article describes the value of South-South collaboration in the reduction of avoidable blindness. Specifically it describes a South-South collaboration between India and Botswana that evolved out of the VISION 2020 LINK between Cambridge University Hospitals, two institutions in India...
Building research capacity through the VISION 2020 LINKS Programme
The aim is to build capacity for research in the region covered by the College of Ophthalmology of Eastern, Central and Southern Africa (COECSA). The project will build research capacity in three ophthalmology training institutions by ‘training the trainers’ and...
Leadership skills training through the COECSA-RCOphth LINK
The Lead Forward project was an initiative of the VISION 2020 LINKS Programme, funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) via the Tropical Health Education Trust (THET). It aimed to improve the quality of medical leadership within VISION 2020...
Infection prevention and control through a VISION 2020 LINK between Mombasa and Southampton
The authors share how a partnership between Mombasa and Southampton has enabled Kenyan healthcare professionals from four institutions to innovate and work as a group to improve infection prevention and control. Infection prevention and control (IPC) is a cornerstone of...
Tackling diabetic retinopathy globally through the VISION 2020 LINKS Diabetic Retinopathy Network
It is abundantly clear that the burden of diabetes is rapidly increasing, as there are now 415 million adults with diabetes in the world, with a projected rise to 642 million by 2040 [1]. This equates to 1 in 10...
New Flying Eye Hospital takes to the skies for its first programme
In June of this year, international eye care charity Orbis launched their new Flying Eye Hospital, a powerful tool helping the medical community combat preventable blindness through sustainable methods. On board an MD-10 aircraft, a fully accredited ophthalmic facility can...
Paediatric ophthalmology training in Malawi through the Vision 2020 LINKS Programme: a decade of partnership
Blinding eye disease in children can lead to a lifetime of dependence and non-productivity for the person afflicted. Sometimes a relatively simple condition such as a refractive error can lead to irreversible disability that could, if caught in time, have...
