Every district in Rwanda now has an eye care facility, thanks to the completion of 45 eye care facilities in every hospital in the country. The eye care centers in every hospital have been built as a result of a partnership between the Ministry of Health and One Sight, a global nonprofit dedicated to extending vision care to those who lack access to such services. The organisation delivers quality eye exams and glasses to underserved populations globally, where, in 34 years, it has served 7 million people in more than 50 countries and has provided permanent vision care access to more than 46 million people. In Rwanda, the organisation collaborates with the Ministry of Health to provide solutions to uncorrected refractive errors through establishing a sustainable vision care programs in Referral, Provincial and District Hospitals throughout Rwanda. Late last week, the organisation came out to announce recently that all districts now have eye care centres infrastructure as 45 facilities have been put in place to date, and that close to 500,000 Rwandans have been cared for since OneSight started operations in Rwanda in 2015. The partnership has intent to provide solutions to uncorrected refractive errors through establishing a sustainable vision care program in Referral, Provincial and District Hospitals throughout Rwanda. The program includes infrastructure improvements, new refraction and dispensing equipment donation and installation, training for existing and new staff, and also a complete glass-dispensing unit with a sustainable supply chain including logistics and an in-country manufacturing laboratory. According to Tharcisse Mpunga, the Minister of State in charge of Primary Health Care, the government is also making effort to take eye care services to lower level health facilities like health posts. “We have managed to take eye care equipment to health posts in some parts of our country, starting from the north where they are now able to treat eyes at such a level. We are now inviting partners to work with so that we can take this program to more parts of the country,” he said. Mpunga noted that currently one of the problems is that the Community Based Health Insurance (CBHI/Mituelle de Sante) does not cover the cost of glasses, but promised that this will be addressed soon. “There is currently a program being worked on, aiming at changing the operations of the CBHI so that it can include more services for example eye care services,” he said. He also highlighted that Rwanda still has a shortage of health professionals including eye care specialists like ophthalmologists and clinicians. Katherine Overbey, the President and Executive Director of One Sight told media that her organisation has recently held talks with the Ministry of Health, looking for ways to continue to build Rwanda’s capacity so that there will be more Ophthalmic Clinical Officers(OCOs) among other skilled medics “who can continue to fill that gap.” Globally, at least 1 billion people have a near or distance vision impairment that could have been prevented or has yet to be addressed. Reduced or absent eyesight, if not receiving timely attention and care, can have major and long-lasting effects on all aspects of life, including daily personal activities, interacting with the community, school and work opportunities, the ability to access public services and general health status. Reduced eyesight can be caused by a number of factors, including systemic diseases like diabetes, trauma to the eyes, age-related macular degeneration, cataracts and infectious diseases of the cornea and trachoma. The majority of people with vision impairment are over the age of 50 years; however, vision loss can affect people of all ages. Blindness and vision impairment more severely impact on the life of people in low- and middle-income settings where accessibility to most essential services and specific government-supported aids may be lacking.
