Kegalle ICEE Vision Centres celebrate two-year milestone with practical eye care emphasis

May 2011 marks a tremendous milestone for the ICEE Vision Centres located in the Kegalle District in Sri Lanka. Celebrations are underway to acknowledge the second anniversary of the ICEE collaboration to establish self-sustaining vision centres in the district, opened to help eliminate vision impairment and avoidable blindness.

The establishment of the vision centres has greatly increased access to affordable eye care for those in most need, offering sustainable eye care solutions to many elderly and underprivileged members of the community who previously had never had received vision care.  In the month of March 2011 alone, there were a total of 376 eye examinations, 185 spectacles dispensed to individuals, and 74 persons were referred to secondary and tertiary eye care service. These numbers are increasing month by month due to the ICEE initiative of conducting regular local awareness and screening programmes.

The second year anniversary celebration was a three day event, 23-25 May, with a practical eye care emphasis, held at three different locations: Warakapola, Yatiyanthota and Deraniyagala. Activities during these days included free screenings for local people, free spectacle dispensing to many local children previous screened and acknowledgment awards for staff and collaborators who have contributed to the success of the vision centres.  Over the last two years the vision centres have been staffed by optometric technicians and optometrists, trained by ICEE to provide accessible eye care for all Sri Lankans. Appropriate and regular training programmes and optical workshops have ensured custom-made spectacles are made available at an affordable price to all those who are in need.

“I am extremely proud of all the accomplishments the vision centres have made throughout the last two years. Being able to help so many people throughout the District of Kegalle makes me very happy. We are making a difference and it shows not just in the community but on the faces of the people,” said Anitha Munasinghe, ICEE Country Representative. The intrinsic link between poor vision and poverty is unfortunately all too apparent in Sri Lankan communities, just as it is in other developing nations of the world, drastically reducing education and employment opportunities for individuals unable to access basic eye care: A vision screening and a pair of spectacles.

The value the ICEE Vision Centres offers to the Kegalle District can be highlighted by the level of support the local communities give the vision centres with their frequency and visiting numbers. For many local people, access to vision care has created income and self-sustainability. ICEE has established cooperative relationships with pre-existing eye care centres ensuring it continues to maintain and integrate within the Sri Lankan eye care system. By establishing these methods of delivering eye care, ICEE programmes in Sri Lanka have provided eye examinations to 53,700 individuals, dispensed 42,395 pairs of spectacles and referred 6,939 individuals for further care. “There is no disability worse than visual impairment or blindness,” Professor Brien Holden, CEO of ICEE said.

“The the Ministry of Healthcare and Nutrition, collaborating with local district partners and other International non-government organisations have been doing important work, in the Kegalle District, to further reduce vision impairment and blindness in Sri Lanka through promotion, prevention and other interventions.”

Professor Holden continued: “Importantly, this work will last beyond the life of the funding and will help ensure long term that the Sri Lankan people in the Kegalle District, who were facing permanent and disabling vision impairments, have the same opportunities as everyone else to make the most of their lives and contribute to their communities.”