Papua New Guinea (PNG) Eye Care, Brien Holden Vision Institute and the PNG and Australian governments are working together to develop sustainable access to eye care for all local people in PNG.
Recent research figures show a very high national prevalence of vision impairment and blindness in PNG. Statistics indicate uncorrected vision impairment in people 50 years and older is 29.2%, with the major causes being the need for spectacles (45.7%) and cataract (35.2%).
The collaborative relationship, which began in 2008, is achieving positive outcomes.
In 2016, the Lions Club International Foundation (LCIF) committed to funding the building of the Lions National Resource Centre for Eye Health, in Port Moresby. Since the opening, the Centre has become an eye health hub supporting comprehensive services, workforce development, national spectacle distribution, advocacy and health promotion.
Leigh Cleave, Acting Executive Director at Brien Holden Vision Institute Foundation, said, “Our programs over the last decade, collaboratively with PNG Eye Care and the Prevention of Blindness Committee, have helped enable significant impact within the communities here and its very encouraging to see such commitment to comprehensive services and sustainability of impact beyond the program life”.
