Brien Holden Vision Institute has collaborated with Tanzanian-born, US qualified optometrist Dr. Moes Nasser and Optometry Giving Sight to launch the Lake Zone Roshanali Nasser’s Outreach Project. The project will screen 14,000 primary school pupils from 14 schools and an additional 6,000 people in the Lake Zone community.
Teachers in the 14 ‘adopted’ schools will be trained as vision screeners enabling them with the knowledge to screen the children’s eyes. Project optometrists will examine and refract children referred by teachers, then prescribe and dispense spectacles and low vision devices as appropriate. The children with other eye conditions will be referred for further examination to the Bariadi and Mwanza Vision Centres or the Bugando Referral Hospital.
Lake Zone Roshanali Nasser’s Outreach Project will reestablish school health clubs in each of the 14 schools, equipping them with eye health promotion materials. Vision corridors will provide the ongoing capability to check children’s vision for impairment.
Eden Mashayo, Program Manager for Tanzania, Brien Holden Vision Institute spoke positively about the launch of the new project. “We are grateful for the new opportunity to further develop local capacity by training teachers as vision screeners and create sustainability through the vision corridors and clubs. This project will also benefit people at the community level as we will reach many people through the mobile outreach activities and be able to provide them with much needed free eye care services.”
