The State-owned HCM City Eye Hospital has unveiled a campaign to prevent blindness among children.
The implementation of the plan was discussed with doctors from preventive health centres and school authorities at a meeting on Nov. 1.
The project, worth 3.8 billion VND (213,000 USD), which will be partially funded by Australia 's Fred Hollows Foundation, will focus on refractive error, which causes far-sightedness and short sight.
Teams will be set up to treat the condition at preventive health centres and hospitals in six remote districts – Binh Tan, Hoc Mon, Cu Chi, 8, 9, and 12.
Dissemination of information on the condition would be strengthened, Dr Tran Thi Phuong Thu, head of the HCM City Eye Hospital said.
The hospital would also assist schools in these districts to take care of eyes for their students.
Knowledge about preventing eye diseases could prevent and effectively treat 75 percent of all cases of blindness in Vietnam , she added.
A 2008 report by the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences showed that the rate of school students with refractive errors was 74.82 percent.
According to the Vietnam National Eye Hospital in Hanoi , there are around 23,000 blind children in the country, but with timely treatment, 50 percent of the cases could have been prevented.
There are three million children aged under 16 with refractive errors.
A national-level campaign to prevent blindness began early this year and seeks to reduce the rate of blindness from more than 0.4 percent to below 0.3 percent by 2020.
Most provinces and cities have set up standing boards under the campaign and trained nearly 100 opthalmologists and 2,000 health workers in all.
Around 1,000 people had cataract surgery under the campaign.
Yet another campaign, this one to encourage people to donate corneas, is under way in 10 provinces and cities. It has managed to sign up more than 30,000 people for cornea donation.
"Around 300,000 people suffering from visual impairment due to cornea-related conditions are waiting for operations," Nguyen Huu Hoang, deputy head of the Vietnam National Eye Hospital 's eye bank, said.
Asso Prof Dr Do Nhu Hon, Hoang's boss, said the target of reducing the blindness rate to 0.3 percent in 2020 can be achieved if blindness prevention methods are implemented simultaneously around the country./.
The implementation of the plan was discussed with doctors from preventive health centres and school authorities at a meeting on Nov. 1.
The project, worth 3.8 billion VND (213,000 USD), which will be partially funded by Australia 's Fred Hollows Foundation, will focus on refractive error, which causes far-sightedness and short sight.
Teams will be set up to treat the condition at preventive health centres and hospitals in six remote districts – Binh Tan, Hoc Mon, Cu Chi, 8, 9, and 12.
Dissemination of information on the condition would be strengthened, Dr Tran Thi Phuong Thu, head of the HCM City Eye Hospital said.
The hospital would also assist schools in these districts to take care of eyes for their students.
Knowledge about preventing eye diseases could prevent and effectively treat 75 percent of all cases of blindness in Vietnam , she added.
A 2008 report by the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences showed that the rate of school students with refractive errors was 74.82 percent.
According to the Vietnam National Eye Hospital in Hanoi , there are around 23,000 blind children in the country, but with timely treatment, 50 percent of the cases could have been prevented.
There are three million children aged under 16 with refractive errors.
A national-level campaign to prevent blindness began early this year and seeks to reduce the rate of blindness from more than 0.4 percent to below 0.3 percent by 2020.
Most provinces and cities have set up standing boards under the campaign and trained nearly 100 opthalmologists and 2,000 health workers in all.
Around 1,000 people had cataract surgery under the campaign.
Yet another campaign, this one to encourage people to donate corneas, is under way in 10 provinces and cities. It has managed to sign up more than 30,000 people for cornea donation.
"Around 300,000 people suffering from visual impairment due to cornea-related conditions are waiting for operations," Nguyen Huu Hoang, deputy head of the Vietnam National Eye Hospital 's eye bank, said.
Asso Prof Dr Do Nhu Hon, Hoang's boss, said the target of reducing the blindness rate to 0.3 percent in 2020 can be achieved if blindness prevention methods are implemented simultaneously around the country./.
