During the 1986 Refugee Health Group Workshop held at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the lead author surveyed 35 refugee workers' perceptions of blindness and its prevention in refugee communities. This paper analyzes and reports the results. Those surveyed generally agreed that blindness is a community problem of public health magnitude in most, if not all, refugee communities. In addition, respondents reported inadequate eye care services and a scarcity of literature on the topic. Refugee health organizations often overlook the need for eye care, and blindness prevention agencies are often unaware of the needs of particular refugee communities. The authors make recommendations for stimulating greater interest and active involvement in the prevention of blindness among refugees.
In recent years, blindness In developing nations has been increasingly recognized as a public health problem requiring new approaches. To better prepare eye care professionals to assume their multidisciplinary responsibilities as epidemiologists, health planners, administrators, and educators, a new conceptual model is presented. This eye care plan and delivery scheme for developing nations attempts to integrate three essential disciplines of blindness prevention (epidemiology, administration, and education) with six major causes of blindness (cataract, trachoma, glaucoma, xerophthalmia, onchocerciasis, and leprosy) at three levels of intervention (community, primary, and secondary). The result can be conceptualized as a three-dimensional geometric model. This spatial construct has many practical applications and should serve as a useful frame of reference for eye care professionals and organizations active in international ophthalmology and blindness prevention in developing countries.
The 1978 International Conference on Primary Health Care held in Alma Ata, USSR, made a strong appeal for recognizing that blindness is avoidable. Most blindness can be cured by medical and surgical means, or prevented by public health measures. Now, 10 years later, it is appropriate to review and evaluate a decade of primary eye care. This article describes and reviews from a managerial perspective at three levels of intervention a community eye care program for Afghan refugees established in 1982 by the League of Red Cross in Pakistan. Factors for success and problems are analyzed, and priorities for the future are suggested.
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