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My top five: Trinkets of fact or fiction

Trinkets of adult wisdom are often delivered to children alongside warnings of catastrophic outcomes. In this article we present five ‘facts’ about eye health and vision and ask the question: to what extent are these ideas backed up by literature?...

In conversation with Professor Bernie Chang, President, Royal College of Ophthalmologists

Congratulations on your appointment as RCOphth President in May last year. COVID-19 hit just before your presidency started. This must have been an incredibly challenging time to take the reins. How has the College risen to the challenges? Thank you....

From paper to pocket: Standardising eyecare with the Malawi Eye Care App

Malawi’s population is mostly rural; the government and Christian Health Association of Malawi (CHAM) together deliver about 80% of healthcare services through local district and community health facilities [1]. However, ophthalmology specialist services are only concentrated in the central hospitals....

Large language models in ophthalmology

Traditional artificial intelligence (AI) models typically require large amounts of labelled data for training. For example, to develop a model capable of detecting macular pathologies on optical coherence tomography scans, thousands of scans would need to be manually labelled by...

Collaborating across the Caribbean to tackle diabetic retinopathy

The VISION 2020 LINKS Programme has been running since 2004, with a focus on improving the quality and quantity of eye care training in low-income countries [1]. In 2014, the Diabetic Retinopathy Network (DR-NET) was established [2]. This is a...

Strengthening eye care services in Botswana through the Botswana-Addenbrooke’s Abroad VISION 2020 LINK

The VISION 2020 LINK between Botswana and Addenbrooke’s Abroad has been running for 10 years. With support from the VISION 2020 LINKS Programme two-way exchange visits were undertaken leading to the formation of the first formal international partnership under Addenbrooke’s...

Advanced Glaucoma Surgery Course in Africa through the Juba-Bournemouth VISION 2020 LINK

In order to enhance specialist skills, particularly for South Sudan, the Juba-Bournemouth VISION 2020 LINK has been offering week-long intensive ophthalmic specialist training for the last three years, in collaboration with the University of Nairobi, the College of Ophthalmology of...

Capacity building for ophthalmic nursing in Ghana, Botswana and Tanzania

Ophthalmic nurses (ON) have been the backbone of eye health services in Africa since the mid-20th century and remain the largest single cadre of allied ophthalmic personnel in Commonwealth countries in Africa. Numbers are currently estimated at between 3500 and...

Establishing an intra-arterial chemotherapy service for children with retinoblastoma in Nigeria for the first time

This is the first in a series of three articles (see Part 2 here) about strengthening eye health services in Nigeria through collaboration with the LINKS and Networks run at the International Centre for Eye Health, London School of Hygiene...

Back-to-back congresses in Africa highlight international collaboration to advance eye health

The ISOO Africa 2023 Congress The first International Society of Ocular Oncology (ISOO) [1] conference to be held in Africa took place in Mombasa, Kenya, from 21-23 August 2023. Participants came from all over Africa, as well as the US,...