Humanitarian archive for 2018
Paediatric ophthalmology training in Africa through the Juba-Bournemouth VISION 2020 LINK
One of the aims of the College of Ophthalmology of Eastern, Central and Southern Africa (COECSA) is to provide specialist ophthalmic training for practising ophthalmologists from its 11 member countries. A number of initiatives are enabling more ophthalmologists to undertake...
Sustainable prevention of blindness from diabetic retinopathy through prevention and control of diabetes mellitus – LINK partnership experience in Dominica
The Caribbean Diabetic Retinopathy Project (DR Caribbean) is a five-year project that aims to reduce blindness due to diabetic retinopathy (DR) across four Commonwealth countries: Belize, Dominica, Jamaica and St Lucia. The VISION 2020 LINKS Programme at the London School...
Strengthening capacity for ophthalmic research within three East African VISION 2020 LINKS – The Research Mentorship Workshop
Building capacity for ophthalmic research in low- and middle-income countries is an important aim of the VISION 2020 LINKS Programme. The International Centre for Eye Health (ICEH) at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) has been working...
Diabetes and diabetic retinopathy: Changes in understanding of the disease over the last 25 years and how the UK is helping low-income countries tackle the challenges
Diabetes – a historical perspective Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic disease caused by inherited and / or acquired deficiency in production of insulin by the pancreas, or by the ineffectiveness of the insulin produced. Such a deficiency results in...
Rb-NET: a network to save life and preserve vision in children in Africa
Responding to need is a key element underpinning the VISION 2020 LINKS Programme [1]. It is embedded in the process through which LINKS are established, with institutions in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) first defining their priority areas of training...
Volunteer abroad: the Khmer Sight Foundation
A team of volunteers describe their experiences of working with the Khmer Sight Foundation in Cambodia. Cambodia has a population of 15 million people, of whom an estimated 300,000 are blind. This figure is increasing by 10,000 each year. Three-quarters...