Sight For All has been successfully running am number of COVID-19 response projects, including:
- A dedicated information website for our partners in country to access up-to-date triage, guidelines and research papers. This site remains live and continuously updated and it is accessible at http://covid19.sightforall.org/
- In Myanmar we provided 180 perspex shields fitted to slit lamps and ophthalmic lasers and 700 Face Masks provided to eye hospitals and departments throughout the country.
- We held a COVID-19 Webinar on 7 May that was attended by 40 ophthalmologists, eye health workers, refractionists and hospital directors from Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Bangladesh, India and Australia. The purpose of the webinar was the share information with colleagues on the latest information, measures and findings regarding COVID-19.
The inability for international travel meant that Sight For All projects could not continue to be undertaken via Visionaries travelling to teach in- country. Our approach has been adjusted in the following ways:
- Online tutorials and case studies developed for our Fellows in the sub-specialty areas of Glaucoma, Neuro-Ophthalmology, Paediatric Ophthalmology, Retina and Oculoplastics. These have been made available to ophlamologists from other countries to foster an environment of sharing knowledge and information, where applicable.
- We hosted our first Online Ophthalmology Online Congress in early June. The Congress had a focus on paediatric ophthalmology and included two x 2-hourly sessions attended by 95 and 86 participants respectively, from 6 countries.
- We continue to support our sustainable education approach, which involves our Fellows becoming teachers in their own countries during the continuing pandemic. For example in Myanmar, A/Prof Than Htun Aung continues to train his 5th Paediatric Ophthalmology Fellow, while Dr May Ko Ko Thet and Dr Khine Su are both training their first glaucoma and oculoplastics Fellows at the Yangon Eye Hospital. In Cambodia, Dr Kheng and Dr Soleaphy are training two Paediatric Ophthalmology Fellows through the Australian Government’s Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP). Cambodian Retinal Specialists Dr Leng and Long are commencing training of two new Cambodian and one Laotian Fellow.