Medical Aid and Training in The Gambia
Gambia Holiday News is an active supporter of the The
Gambia National Eye Care Programme
Many children and adults in developing nations struggle through
life with poor or severely impaired vision, due to expensive
and limited eye care resources. According to the World Health
Organisation, the eyesight of one-in-four people worldwide
can be improved through the use of corrective lenses. In these
countries, only 20 percent of the population can afford eye
care.
Through many years of recycling spectacles, Gambia Holiday
News have developed a close relationship with the Optical
Unit of the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital in Gambia
and with the continued help and generosity of our patients
and refering opticians are able to make regular shipments
of not only spectacles and lenses but also specialist dispensing
optician's equipment such as, ultrasonic cleaners, frame warmers,
digital pupilometers, lens identifiers and lensometers.
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Optical
Dispensing Training is now offered to those who
need to adjust spectacle frames and do basic lensometry
tasks on a daily basis. The course sponsored by Optimax
is intended for ophthalmic technicians, optometric assistants
and those seeking such employment.
The course ntroduces the student to ophthalmic technology,
including the role of the ophthalmic technologist, duties
and responsibilities of the technologist, basic ocular
examination techniques, measurement of visual acuities,
basic lensometry, identification and usage of ophthalmic
equipment and maintenance of ophthalmic examination
procedures and records.
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Eye Care in The Gambia
The Gambia is widely acknowledged to have one of the most
forward-thinking policies on eye sight problems on the African
continent.
"The Gambia established a National Eye care Programme
following our prevalence survey of blindness and eye diseases
in 1986," said Dr Yakumba Kassama, the country's Health
Minister, recently.
"The leading causes of blindness in The Gambia are cataracts,
glaucoma, and cornoreal opacities.
"Based on the fact that these conditions are either
preventable and/or curable... The Gambia actually focussed
on the primary healthcare approach."
Dr Kassama said that this "primary healthcare approach"
involved making services "affordable, accessible, and
appropriate."
"Every five years we have a plan of action which is
developed, with particular emphasis on human resource deployment,"
he said.
He added that The Gambia was taking advantage of "appropriate
technology" - to help its blind - such as building and
equipping of secondary eye care centres, and the local production
of eye drops.
"We are even saving money rather than spending,"
he said.
"At the same time [we are] getting access to the community
and addressing the issue at primary level."
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