A dispersed population and widening wealth gap pose great difficulties in providing affordable and equitable eye health care for the citizens of Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR). The Fred Hollows Foundation has been working in Lao PDR since 2008 to eliminate avoidable blindness.
A brief introduction to Lao PDR
Lao PDR has a population of only 6.8 million. The small landlocked country faces significant health challenges through poverty, low public spending on health care and a largely rural population with poor access to medical services, many of which are rudimentary and inadequately served with trained eye care personnel.
In the past decade or so, Lao PDR has enjoyed strong economic growth and is now classified as a lower-middle- income country by the World Bank.
However, the World Health Organization reports that inequality is increasing – more than a quarter of the population lives below the poverty line – as are disparities in access to food, health care and education. The mountainous landscape means many places are difficult to access; approximately one in five people live in areas with no paved roads.
The prevalence of blindness is estimated to be as high as 5% in some rural or remote areas of the country, where more than eight in ten people live. Women account for up to twice as many cases of blindness as men.
Cataract is the most common cause, with approximately 10,000 people in need of a relatively straightforward cataract operation to restore their sight.
Access to eye care in Lao PDR
Thirty years ago, Lao PDR had just one ophthalmologist and three cataract surgeons, and all were based in the capital, Vientiane.
Today, there are 20 ophthalmologists – about one per 340,000 people – though many services remain confined to Vientiane, and many of the country’s 17 provinces still have no ophthalmologist, and in some cases not even a basic eye doctor. Compare the situation with Australia where it’s estimated there is one ophthalmologist for every 30,000 people.
Since 2008, The Fred Hollows Foundation has been pursuing the goals of delivering eye care services in remote areas and educating the community about eye health and avoidable blindness, in partnership with the Ministry of Health and provincial health departments.
About the program
The Foundation has been working in four northern provinces – Oudomxay, Luang Namtha, Bokeo and Phongsaly.
As part of our Sustainable Comprehensive Eye Care project, we constructed a specialist eye unit at Oudomxay Provincial Hospital; which serves as a surgical centre but also a training base for regional eye health workers.
The Foundation considers that a strong focus on eye health education is an important part of our work.
The majority of people in remote and rural regions are unaware of eye care and eye disease and fearful of surgery. That's one of the reasons why we're training village health volunteers to make their communities aware of eye disease and how to prevent and treat avoidable blindness.
A further barrier to eye health provision in rural areas is cost. Most people cannot afford to pay for surgical treatment or the cost of transport to a health facility which could be several days’ walk from where they live.
We are training clinical eye care personnel at the provincial, district and local clinic levels to deliver services in remote areas.
The Foundation’s priorities in Lao PDR include:
- Partnering with provincial governments to establish comprehensive eye care services, including screening, cataract surgeries and dispensing of spectacles
- Supporting the National Ophthalmology Centre to address staffing shortfalls in eye health, especially eye surgeons, eye health nurses and community health workers
- Strengthening our partnership with the Ministry of Education to pilot a School Eye Health Education Project
- Advocating to the Lao PDR government for increased investment in eye health and commitment to the National Prevention of Blindness action plan
The Foundation acknowledges the support of the Australian Government through the
Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP) within the Lao PDR program.
Working with our partners in 2021, we:
- Screened 23,707 people
- Performed 22,817 eye operations and treatments, including 678 cataract operations and 22,139 other sight saving or improving interventions
- Distributed 392 pairs of glasses
- Trained 33 people trained including 2 surgeons, 10 clinic support staff and 21 teachers