Search

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...

Reflections on a twelve-year partnership: The Makassar-Dundee LINK

In the first article of a two-part series (see Part 2 here), the authors provide an overview of this hugely successful partnership and how they overcame the challenges of COVID-19. What began in 2008 as a connection between equals, has...

Glaucoma-NET: a novel way of improving glaucoma management in sub-Saharan Africa

Background Glaucoma is the second most common cause of blindness worldwide [1]. People with untreated glaucoma suffer from irreversible, progressive loss of sight. The disease is characterised by progressive loss of visual field, with pathological cupping of the optic disc...

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)...

Patient and public participation shapes biomedical research and access priorities in eye health

Patients, clinicians and clinician-scientists play a valuable role in shaping the future of vision research. Limited funding demands targeted research initiatives that ultimately will shape health policy and practice to secure progress in improving patient outcomes in eye health. This...

The Eye Health Network – an ‘optometry-first’ approach to eye care

Historically, in NHS Grampian, ophthalmology and optometry worked separately, with even the process of optometry referral to hospital occurring only at the behest of the patient’s general practitioner (GP). Criteria for referral were not discussed and feedback after referral was...

Gene therapy for inherited retinal disease: the Manchester Ocular Gene Therapy Group MDT service

The authors describe the process set up in Manchester for the optimum delivery and assessment of a new gene therapy treatment for patients with RPE65 IRD. Inherited retinal dystrophies (IRDs) are the second commonest cause of severe visual impairment in...

Artificial intelligence in eyecare: how do we ensure new technologies truly benefit our patients?

From monitoring patients with heart disease to improving the early diagnosis of cancer, artificial intelligence (AI) using deep learning techniques is already employed in many different healthcare specialties [1]. In the eyecare field, AI technologies have been used to analyse...

The impact of obstructive sleep apnoea monitoring functionality on smartwatches: a new frontier for ophthalmologists

Dawn of a new era in wearable technology? Smartwatches have really stepped up their game and have evolved from telling time to keeping an eye on our health. In February 2024, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave...

Charity work in Cambodia: Culture, cataracts, and cruelty

Cambodia has one of the lowest numbers of eye specialist doctors per capita in the world, and Bita Manzouri takes us on a journey into the charitable work of the Khmer Sight Foundation who are working to combat this. “Ut...