Sri Lanka : IRIS Programs

Sri Lanka has been wracked by civil war for more than 25 years, a situation that continues today and has claimed the lives of over 65,000 people. Many Sri Lankans, whilst not destitute, remain poor and vulnerable.

Though estimated only 4% of the population now exists on under $1 a day, 41% still live on less than $2 a day. Although most poor live in the countryside, poverty rates per capita in urban areas are only a little lower than rural areas.

Providing support to eye care in Sri Lanka represented a new development for IRIS in 2006 since when our programs have focussed on providing ophthalmic equipment to establish new eye clinics in rural areas; upgrading ophthalmic equipment at existing eye clinics and enabling poor people to access eye care services.

The prevalence of blindness in Sri Lanka is 0.427%, and the commonest cause is maturity onset cataract which affects an estimated 135,000 people who have vision less than 6/60 (economic blindness).

In October 2007, the Ministry of Healthcare & Nutrition launched the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Avoidable Blindness in Sri Lanka, a five-year plan (2007 - 2012), which prioritises development in three main areas: (please follow the links)

> Infrastructure & Technology - (strengthening, rehabilitation, development in priority areas)

> Disease Control - (cataract, refractive error, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, low vision & childhood blindness)
> Human Resource Development - (ophthalmologists, health professionals and ophthalmic technicians)

During 2007, IRIS programs focussed on:

EQUIPPING NEW & EXISTING EYE CLINICS

To increase the number of eye clinics in the periphery, IRIS funded all the ophthalmic equipment needed to establish a new eye clinic at Embilipitiya Hospital in the southern province, where the newly appointed Ophthalmologist will now perform 1,000 blindness prevention surgeries annually. IRIS also funded 28 pieces of essential equipment, cataract instruments and low vision devices being provided to seven existing eye clinics.

For much of 2007, the only hospital equipped to treat people with diabetic retinopathy was the Eye Hospital in Colombo. Through a partnership with the Rotary Club of Kandy and Zeiss in Germany, IRIS provided a new laser and fundus camera to the Centre for Sight in Kandy that will benefit thousands of people across the country and also save them the expense of having to travel to Colombo.

EYE SCREENING, REFRACTION AND SURGERY PROGRAMS FOR POOR PEOPLE

In partnership with local Rotary, Inner Wheel & Zonta Clubs, Welfare Officers in local villages and tea plantation companies, IRIS supported the staging of 19 eye screening, refraction and surgery programmes that were attended by 3,671 people. Spectacles to correct visual impairment were provided free-of-charge to 2,414 people and 961 people underwent blindness prevention surgery to remove cataracts at eye clinics IRIS resourced with all the required medical consumables.

In 2007, IRIS entered into a new partnership with Kelani Valley Plantations Ltd (KVPL) that trained 254 management and medical staff, welfare officers and midwives on KVPL tea estates in primary eye care. Staff are now capable of organising regular eye screening sessions for the 15,900 employees on all 27 KVPL estates. IRIS also subsidised the cost of cataract surgeries resulting from eye screening sessions.

Priorities for 2008:

IRIS will continue to target the provision of eye screening, refraction and cataract surgery programs, through partnerships already established with Rotary, Zonta and Inner Wheel clubs, Village Welfare Officers and tea plantation companies. A surgery program will also be established for poor people living in districts surrounding Batticaloa on the east coast.

IRIS will also respond to requests from the Ministry of Healthcare & Nutrition IRIS to equip new eye clinics in the periphery.

Throughout 2008, IRIS will continue to stage primary eye care training courses for tea estate superintendents, medical assistants, welfare officers and midwives in a partnership with ophthalmologists at the Centre for Sight in Kandy. Once trained, individuals will be able to recognize eye problems and refer people for treatment to the local eye clinic.

IRIS will also seek to support initiatives to prevent childhood blindness and provide low vision devices and aids to children whose education is threatened due to their visual impairment.

SRI LANKA PROGRAM BUDGET 2008
Equipping New & Existing Eye Clinics	115,575
Eye Screening, Refraction & Surgery Programs	111,276
Primary Eye Care & Training Courses	9,413
Childhood Blindness & Low Vision	71,175
Coordination & Planning	8,160
Program support costs	54,118
Totals (US$)	$369,717

IRIS & Rotary Village Eye Screening Camp		Patients returning home after cataract surgery