Bangladesh

Refractive Error Among children

The Refractive Error Among Children (REACH) project aims to reduce visual impairment due to uncorrected refractive error among school-going children and provide a sustainable and scalable solution to a shortage of care.

Orbis, along with our partners, develops teams of ophthalmic personnel and supports them with digital and clinical equipment to perform screenings in schools, and provide eyeglasses, as well as referrals for children who require further examination and treatment. This model has also been rolled out successfully in India, Ghana, and Nepal.

The Orbis Flying Eye Hospital first touched down in Bangladesh in 1985 and kick-started the first training programs for optometrists and opticians. To support long-term projects, we created a permanent office in Dhaka in 2000.

Over the years, we’ve made tremendous progress tackling avoidable blindness. By working closely with 26 partners in 28 districts, we’re reaching more than half a million people each year. Since that first visit, we’ve trained nearly 40,000 medical professionals in ophthalmic specialties including pediatric ophthalmology, retina, cataract, glaucoma, and cornea.

Since we began working with partners in Bangladesh Orbis has:

• Hosted 11 Flying Eye Hospital projects
• Equipped 400 community clinics with vision screening equipment
• Set up nine centers for diabetic retinopathy screening at district hospitals
• Supported the establishment or improvement of:
   - 17 secondary hospitals
   - Four tertiary hospitals
   - 37 vision centers (including four Women-led Green Vision Centers)
   - Two wet labs
   - One digital training hub
   - One Quality Resource Center
   - Published eight research papers

Your support has made it possible for us to cover a broad range of activities including: treating diabetic retinopathy (DR), expanding retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) services across the country, training eye health professionals, strengthening eye care facilities, creating new referral systems and quality assurance standards, building public awareness, and driving policy and advocacy work to integrate primary eye care into primary healthcare. Our work focuses on rural and underserved populations and strengthening our partners with the tools, training, and necessary technology to provide quality eye care services that are affordable, accessible and sustainable.

We work to promote quality eye care and best practice in eye health in collaboration with government, international and national NGOs. Below is a list of some of the fantastic institutions we work alongside.

Public/Government

• National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital (NIO&H) – Government apex institute and hospital under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

Non-profit Organizations/NGOs

• BRAC
• Grameen GC Eye Care Hospital, Bogra
• Chittagong Eye Infirmary & Training Complex (CEITC)
• Ispahani Islamia Eye Institute & Hospital (IIEI&H), Dhaka and its district level branch hospitals
• Dr. K. Zaman BNSB (Bangladesh National Society for the Blind) Eye Hospital in Mymensingh
• BNSB (Bangladesh National Society for the Blind) Hospital in Khulna
• Gausul Azam BNSB (Bangladesh National Society for the Blind) Eye Hospital in Dinajpur
• Moulvibazar BNSB (Bangladesh National Society for the Blind) Eye Hospital
• Bangladesh Jatiya Andho Kallyan Samity, Comilla
• Bangladesh Diabetic Association (BADAS) – the network of over 54 diabetic hospitals across the country
• Voluntary Association for Rural Development (VARD), Sylhet
• Mazharul Haque BNSB (Bangladesh National Society for the Blind) Eye Hospital, Chandpur
• De'ep Eye Care Foundation, Rangpur