An evaluation of primary eye care services provided by local health promoters in a remote area of Guatemala

In northwest Guatemala, the rainforest region called “the Ixcán” has very limited access to vision and eye health care. Travel time to the nearest eye doctor is 4 to 8 hours by public transportation. However, most people are not able to afford the 3 or more days away from home required for an eye care appointment. In 1997, an optometrist from Oregon initiated an eye care program in a village in the Ixcán, training local health promoters in basic, primary eye care. The promoters are able to measure refractive errors, dispense glasses from an inventory of donated lenses, and identify cataracts and other eye health conditions. They also have funds to transport patients needing professional care, such as cataract surgery, to Guatemala City, where local surgeons provide low-cost services as part of the project Enfoque Ixcán (EI). In 2006, EI conducted an assessment to determine how the people who have received care over the years feel about the services offered. Middle school students from one of the primary Ixcán communities were trained to conduct interviews and to create and analyze the database resulting from the survey. This created new opportunities for community members to strengthen the project. The presentation will analyze the results of this survey and offer ideas on how this and other eye care programs serving similar populations can improve in effectiveness and efficiency. The students' reflections on their survey experiences will also be shared.