Project VERAS – Piloting Cooperation toward Development in Vision Care in Central America

Background and Purpose: A lack of access to eyecare for those living in extreme poverty due to limited access to public eye care services, a lack of awareness among the population as to the importance of vision care, and a lack of coordination among vision care organizations serving the region spurred design of a system whereby the Ministries of Health and Education collaborated with professional associations and professional schools of optometry and ophthalmology as well as non-governmental organizations in El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua in order to provide eye care for young children entering school.

Methods: A strict scientific protocol was developed based on findings from the VIP study. Public-private partnerships were committed. Trainers conducted capacity building sessions, and international experts trained national leaders who trained district, local level health promoters, school teachers to provide school-based vision screenings utilizing a specially designed Lea Symbol test. Health promotion and awareness activities were conducted with parents, communities, schools. An ophthalmic lane was installed in the district hospital and an ophthalmologist assigned to this post. Children were examined in a coordinated effort between optometry and ophthalmology. Treatment was provided as needed.

Results: An evaluation of this Inter-ministry, inter-disciplinary, multi-institutional public/private collaboration proved the system feasible and successful. Phase two of scaling up the project and replicating the protocol in other countries has commenced.

Conclusions: In order to achieve sustainable results in vision care interventions, cooperation for development techniques must be applied and collaborative governmental and non-governmental coalitions must be established to achieve goals.