China
In 1988, HKI initiated a partnership with
the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Centre (ZOC)
to alleviate cataract blindness. More
recently, HKI-China has provided schools
with various ophthalmic services and education
in eye health. HKI-China's current
activities include:
Cataract accounts
for at least 50% of China's blind,
around 2.5 million people. The goal
of HKI-China's cataract
surgery program is to increase
access to surgical cataract services
for the low-income population in rural
Guangdong. The program also develops
and expands efficient, low-cost surgery
delivery models that allow for cost
recovery, thereby ensuring sustainability.
During the first dozen years of its partnership
with ZOC, HKI helped to carry out several
population-based surveys and cataract
surgery campaigns in southern China.
Support from the Starr Foundation since
1995 has further nurtured this partnership.
Between 1996 and 1999, HKI and ZOC
provided training for over 770 Chinese
ophthalmologists and health workers.
From 2001 to 2004, an HKI-supported eye
clinic was set up in each of the three
poorest regions in rural Guangdong
Province. Over 6,000 cataract patients
received surgeries in these rural clinics
from October 2001 to August 2004. Before
the project, the average cost per surgery
normally ranged from $500-600. The
cost has since been subsidized to cost
$65 in our partner hospitals; in
addition, 15% of the surgeries were
performed completely free of charge
so those who could not afford the operation
could benefit from restored vision.
Outcomes from these surgeries have
been excellent.
The cataract program also delivers advanced
surgery techniques and knowledge to
local ophthalmologists and village
health workers. Over the span of one
year, 26 ophthalmologists and 10 nurses
received intensive training on cataract
surgery under the supervision of consultant
ophthalmologists from ZOC.
Safe, affordable, high-quality operations,
combined with successful social marketing
and efficient hospital management systems,
help to remarkably increase the efficiency
of cataract services in rural southern
China.
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HKI-China
completed a Refractive Error Survey
in Guangzhou in collaboration with
the US National Eye Institute and the
World Health Organization. The aim
of this project was to determine the
prevalence and risk factors of refractive
error, particularly myopia, in school-aged
Chinese children. Fully one-third of
the children did not have the necessary
corrective glasses, and HKI-China helped
provide them with the resources to obtain
them.
HKI-China also supported the ZOC medical
team as they examined 300 low-vision
and blind children in the Guangzhou
School for the Blind. Since the school
has lacked funds for a long time, the
students had not
had an eye examination before HKI-China’s
involvement. The medical team found
that some children could attend normal
school if they had properly-prescribed
eyeglasses, some could improve their
vision through surgery, and some would
not have lost their vision if they
had had an eye examination earlier.
HKI-China is now offering routine eye
examinations to the school to ensure
that other children will not miss an
opportunity to improve their eyesight.
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Program Partners
- Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Guangzhou
- Hainan Provincial People’s Hospital, Haikou, Hainan
- Peking Union Medical College, Beijing
- West China University of Medical Sciences, Chengdu
Key Staff
- Mingguang He - Country Director
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