Refuge Place International (RPI) says it has conducted an eye care training for 20 good vision technicians (GVTs) in Liberia.

The training, according to the non-governmental organisation (NGO), was carried out to address access to quality affordable health care that impacts maternal and infant mortality among poor urban and rural dwellers in the West African country

The 20 new GVTs were recruited by RPI clinic as community health workers (CHW) in Gardnersville and have since been working with the clinic.

Approximately 35,000 Liberians suffer from blindness, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimate.

Cataract is the number one cause of blindness in the country, with an estimated 17,500 people affected, or 50 percent of the total blind population.

Programme Manager of the National Eye Health Programme at the Ministry of Health, Dr Joseph Kerkula, commended RPI for conducting the exercise.

‘I think the step taken by Refugee Place International is in the right direction in the promotion of eye health’, he said.

‘We need more clinical refractionists to help in addressing our eye problems.

‘If we must bridge the acute shortage in eye health technicians, we need to start now by training more people, and this is why I said this step is in the right direction’.

Kerkula called for motivation and deployment of eye health technicians/GVTs in rural parts of the country.

Founder and Chief Executive Officer of RPI, Dr Mosoka Fallah, said the vision of the organisation was to screen 30,000 persons in 2021.

Another NGO providing essential and transformative eye care and surgery in Liberia is SEE International.

In March 2017, the SEE team trained 15 medical professionals, screened 100 patients and performed 22 sight-restoring surgeries in Monrovia, Liberia.

Source: New Dawn Liberia

Photo source: Refuge Place International