About the Program
In 2005, The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ formed a partnership with the Ministry of Health Timor-Leste to develop the country's guiding document for their eye health program, The National Eye Health Strategy. The Strategy was endorsed in September 2006 and The Foundation is now supporting the Ministry of Health with its implementation.
The program aims to improve eye health in all 13 districts of Timor-Leste and is focused on building the capacity of the country to implement high quality and appropriate eye care services, with cataract surgery, refractive error correction and primary eye care services the priorities.
The Foundation is working with local non-governmental organizations and the Ministry of Health so that the country's infrastructure and capacity are improved, enabling Timor-Leste to implement a successful, long-term eye health program.
One of The Foundation's key partners is local NGO, 'Fo Naroman Timor-Leste', which concentrates on eye services at the community level. Their work includes vision screening, refraction and spectacle provision, as well as eye health education and advocacy.
There are various barriers that need to be overcome for the program to be successful and have long term viability.
Current eye health services are inadequate to meet the need. There are limited numbers of eye clinics and nurses, and currently only one eye surgeon to support the entire population of one million people. Further, until recently there were no regulations for cataract surgical procedures which led to poor results in the few surgeries that were performed.
There is also a shortage of facilities. In particular, the eye program has very little access to the country's only operating theatre at the National Hospital, which limits the amount of cataract and other surgery that can be done.
Another challenge is to ensure that the services are easily accessible to people in rural areas, who account for over 80% of the country's population.
The National Eye Health Strategy aims to overcome these current limitations and to improve the quality of all eye health services. This includes an emphasis on training more eye doctors and nurses and the establishment of a national Eye Health Unit to oversee the program's implementation. The introduction of monitoring systems, regulation of eye health providers and the standardisation of all major clinical services, including cataract surgery will
The program is composed of four key components:
- Training more doctors and nurses to deliver services, so that there is at least one eye care nurse for each of the 13 districts in Timor-Leste and enough doctors to deliver cataract surgery in rural as well as urban areas.
- Establishing and equipping eye clinics so that each district within Timor-Leste has at least one clinic, and building a National Eye Health Facility in the capital Dili that will include its own operating theatre.
- Training and supporting the staff of the MoH Eye Health Unit so that they are able to oversee eye health service implementation in Timor-Leste.
- Supporting our local partner Fo Naroman Timor-Leste (FNTL) to provide further eye care services, especially in rural areas.
Through an improved eye health program and an increasing use of eye health services, The Foundation aims to facilitate a sustainable eye care service in Timor-Leste, and thus reduce the burden of blindness and visual impairment of those living in poverty in one of the world's poorest countries.