DIABETIC RETINOPATHY INITIATIVE INTERNATIONAL
The worldwide prevalence of diabetes is escalating at an alarming rate, creating a global public health crisis.
Sight For All is working in Australia and abroad to address the most common complication of diabetes, Diabetic Retinopathy.
Diabetic Retinopathy is the most common complication of diabetes, with one third of people with diabetes having this potentially blinding outcome.
The prevalence of vision-threatening Diabetic Retinopathy is higher in Asian populations. Many low and middle income countries are ill-equipped to identify and manage this blinding condition, with as few as 10% of people having been diagnosed and treated.
In 2015, a pilot study was implemented in Myanmar to determine the prevalence of Diabetic Retinopathy among patients with diabetes. This study reported that 33% of participants had evidence of vision-threatening disease.
Through Sight For All’s sustainable ‘teach a man to fish’ teaching model, we have trained retinal specialists in Cambodia, Lao, Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka. To support this teaching, we have provided diagnostic and surgical equipment including indirect ophthalmoscopes, OCT machines, fundus cameras, surgical microscopes and instruments, vitrectors and retinal lasers, in order to establish Retinal Units in major teaching institutions in each of these countries.
Sight For All commenced our support of regional eye units in Myanmar in 2017, with the Up-skilling of Eye Health Workers Project in Myanmar, This project was funded by the Australian Government’s Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP) and involves the provision of indirect ophthalmoscopes, and training in the diagnosis and treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy.
This very successful project has also been delivered in Cambodia, and Mongolia with support from Australian Government’s Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP) and in Sri Lanka with funding from the Australian Government’s Knowledge and Linkages for an Inclusive Economy Grant (KLIE).