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Building leaders for eye care in Africa: the COECSA-RCOphth VISION 2020 LINK

The VISION 2020 LINK [1] between the College of Ophthalmology of Eastern, Central and Southern Africa (COECSA) and the Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCOphth) has been building leaders of eye care in Africa since 2008, when a Memorandum of Understanding...

A three-way partnership between Nigeria, Tanzania and Northern Ireland

VISION 2020 LINKS between Western Health and Social Care Trust (WHSCT), Altnagelvin Area Hospital, Northern Ireland with first ECWA Eye Hospital, Kano, Nigeria and now also with Mbeya Referral Hospital (MRH), Tanzania, have been beneficial to all three partners. From...

Development of a modern surgical simulation suite to promote safer ophthalmic surgical training

For trainees, having access to surgical simulation equipment is more important than ever. The authors describe the creation of a bespoke teaching and training suite in Glasgow to help trainees develop their skills and promote surgical excellence. Simulation has become...

Strengthening diabetic retinopathy services in Nigeria through DR-NET – from grass roots to national policy development

This is the third article in a series (see Part 1 and Part 2) reflecting on how shared learning via networks of UK and international eye health professionals is contributing to reducing unnecessary blindness in Nigeria. Earlier articles focused on...

The Gambia-Swansea VISION 2020 LINK: building eye care services and international friendships

History The VISION 2020 LINK between the Sheikh Zayed Regional Eye Care Centre (SZRECC), Banjul, The Gambia and the Ophthalmology Department, Singleton Hospital, Swansea started in 2008 under the guidance of the VISION 2020 LINKS Programme at the International Centre...

The International Centre for Eye Health: weaving the global threads together

The VISION 2020 LINKS & Networks Programme has been writing regular articles in Eye News about its capacity-strengthening activities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) for more than a decade. This, the first International Issue, is a landmark for Eye...

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...

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...

Commonwealth nations join forces to prevent blindness from diabetes

More than 70 representatives from 10 Commonwealth countries (in the African, Caribbean and Pacific regions) and Indonesia gathered at a five-day workshop in November 2014 to establish district or national plans to reduce blindness from diabetic retinopathy (DR). The event...