Eye health outreach services in the Pacific Islands region: an updated profile
Julianna Lees, Judith McCool, Alistair Woodward
Pacific Islands countries carry a high burden of eye disease, with cataract, diabetic retinopathy, and to a lesser extent, trachoma most common. Eye care in the Pacific is delivered by national health systems and NGOs such as Fred Hollows Foundation NZ. Outreach clinics in the Pacific Islands are run by nurses and ophthalmologists trained by FHFNZ. Data collected at these clinics between 2009 and 2013 was analysed to determine change in presentation of cases over eight countries. Data show changes in eye health across the region, with refractive error more common in PNG, in three countries (of seven) data indicates a decline in the number of cases. Several reasons explain this change, including successful service delivery to ensure backload of cases are diminished or changes to number of clinicians and therefore services available. The rise of (asymptomatic) diabetic retinopathy may explain the lower number of cases presenting at clinics.
