CHINA FLYING EYE HOSPITAL PROJECT GOES VIRTUAL

Generously supported by our long-standing partner FedEx, the five-week program in native Mandarin aims to build the skills of our Chinese eye health partners in identifying, managing and treating eye disease through live lectures led by world-leading eye health professionals.

Currently, China has one of the world’s highest rates of diabetes as well as the largest number of blind people. With every person living with diabetes at risk of developing the sight threatening condition, combating DR is one of the biggest global eye health priorities.

Around 10% of the coun

Early detection is key to fighting diabetic retinopathy. Ensuring awareness and education amongst communities as well as access to diabetes tests and routine eye screenings is essential.

Orbis has worked in China since the Flying Eye Hospital visited Guangzhou in 1982. Since establishing an office in Beijing in 1999, our long-term projects have helped create quality, affordable and accessible eye care with a particular focus on rural areas.

Over the years, we have carried out 220 projects in 25 regions in China, trained over 20,000 health workers, conducted over 4.5 million screenings and completed over 130,000 sight-saving operations.

Our Flying Eye Hospital has landed in China over 30 times. 2016 saw the last hands-on Flying Eye Hospital training project take place in Shenyang with a hospital-based training project in Linyi following in 2018.

But as the global COVID-19 pandemic rages on and our in-person Flying Eye Hospital projects are still temporarily paused, we’ve pivoted towards online training via Cybersight, so our world leading volunteer faculty can continue to share their skills and fight blindness around the world.

A big thank you to FedEx and our Flying Eye Hospital team for putting together a structured curriculum of virtual ophthalmic training to safely equip our dedicated Chinese eye health partners with the skills and confidence to fight diabetic retinopathy.

Through Cybersight, we can make an impact in places where a physical presence simply isn't possible due to cost, logistics, security or — a global pandemic.

We have been investing in online training tools for decades and, even prior to the pandemic, had an established network of online training tools and remote lectures and mentors.

Now at an impressive 50,000 users, Cybersight helps eye health professionals – regardless of where they are located – to improve skills, collaborate on diagnosis and treatment of patients, and connect with a truly global community of practice that includes technicians, nurses, optometrists and ophthalmologists.

While our virtual projects are not a direct replacement for hands-on training, it does provide critical training to help our partners deliver emergency eye care especially during these challenging times.