More people like Joy will have a better chance of getting eye health care thanks to a new patient information system being rolled out in Kenya.

Four-year-old Joy was first diagnosed with cataract in both eyes at 18 months of age, but with no centralised system to capture and store eye patient information, her treatment was not followed up.

It's vital children are assessed and treated for eye conditions as early as possible because a delay in treatment can mean a child’s brain doesn't respond to signals from the eye even when the problem is fixed, resulting in a lifetime of blindness.

With project funding from The Foundation, staff in our Kenya office worked with a team of ophthalmologists, records technicians and data clerks to develop a new software system so eye care workers can input and access reliable eye patient data.

The National Eye Care Coordination Office (Division of Ophthalmic Services) will compile the information and make it available in real time to eye care professionals across the country.

The first pilot units have been installed and staff have been trained to use the new system.

By the end of this year the system will be rolled out to a further 10 eye units and during the next phase of the project, in 2013, even more eye care facilities will have access to the system.

In 2011, with The Foundation’s support, 19,368 Kenyans were eye screened and 4,997 received sight-saving or improving interventions.

> Find out more about our work in Kenya.