May 2011 marks a tremendous milestone for the International Centre for Eyecare Education (ICEE) Vision Centres located in the Kegalle district.
Celebrations are underway to acknowledge the second anniversary of the ICEE collaboration to establish self sustaining Vision Centres in the district, opened to help eliminate vision impairment and avoidable blindness, the company announced this week.
The establishment of the Vision Centres has greatly increased access to affordable eye care for those in most need, offering sustainable eye care solutions to many elderly and underprivileged members of the community who previously had never had received vision care, it said.
In March this year alone, there were a total of 376 eye examinations, 185 spectacles dispensed to individuals, and 74 persons were referred to secondary and tertiary eye care service. These numbers are increasing month by month due to the ICEE initiative of conducting regular local awareness and screening programmes.
The second year anniversary celebration was a three day event, May 23-25, with a practical eye care emphasis, held at three different locations: Warakapola, Yatiyanthota and Deraniyagala. Activities during these days included free screenings for local people, free spectacle dispensing to many local children previous screened, acknowledgment awards for staff and collaborators who have contributed to the success of the Vision Centres.
“I am extremely proud of all the accomplishments the Vision Centres have made throughout the last two years. Being able to help so many people throughout the district of Kegalle makes me very happy. We are making a difference and it shows not just in the community but on the faces of the people,” said Anitha Munasinghe, ICEE Country Representative. By establishing these methods of delivering eye care, ICEE programmes in Sri Lanka have provided eye examinations to 53,700 individuals, dispensed 42,395 pairs of spectacles and referred 6,939 individuals for further care.
“There is no disability worse than visual impairment or blindness,” Professor Brien Holden, CEO of ICEE said. “The Ministry of Healthcare and Nutrition, collaborating with local district partners and other International non-government organisations have been doing important work, in the Kegalle district, to further reduce vision impairment and blindness in Sri Lanka through promotion, prevention and other interventions.”
ICEE is a global non-profit, non-governmental organisation. |
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