A vital need in promoting eye health in the community is for schoolteachers to be able to play a role in the prevention and detection of eye problems amongst their students.
As part of their ongoing community eye health programme, the eye clinic staff at David Gordon Memorial Hospital (DGMH) Livingstonia, led by Martha Msiska, clinical officer in ophthalmology, have been making visits to schools in their catchment area to deliver a training programme especially designed to equip teachers for this role.
Following training, the teachers will be ready to promote eye health awareness, to identify in the children signs and symptoms of eye problems, and to conduct basic visual acuity screening.
Commenting on how this will integrate with DGMH’s community eye health strategy, Martha reports that “After the teachers complete vision screening, the results will be recorded in each child’s medical/health passport (health book) and also submitted to the eye clinic for our records and follow-up.”
“If a child is found to have a vision problem, the parents or guardians will be informed and advised to bring the child to the hospital eye clinic for a full eye examination and appropriate management. If our outreach clinic is scheduled to visit their village soon, they may also be reviewed there, depending on the nature of the problem and the outreach schedule.”