Seeing the Facts about Blindness in Vietnam

Eye problems and blindness can be debilitating disorders for all those suffering.  In Vietnam, even though ophthalmologists and groups focused on preventing eye diseases are dedicating efforts to provide care to communities, the percentage of people suffering from blindness and eye diseases still remain high.

The numbers:

According to a survey conducted by the Vietnam Institute of Ophthalmology (VNIO) in 2007, about 380,000 people are currently blind while 1.6 million are suffering from poor vision.  Refraction errors are also of major concern, accounting for 2 to 3 million people nationwide.

Why are the numbers so high?

The reasons for the high percentage of vision problems are varied.  The problems range from lack of trained professionals, to limited resources, to geographic spread of care.  It is estimated that only 10 ophthalmologists are available for every 1 million Vietnamese patients.  Many of these physicians practice in large cities, leaving only nurses with minimal training and little resources to care for patients in rural areas.  While more than 75% of Vietnam’s population live in rural areas, most eye care facilities are concentrated in urban centers.  All these reasons prevent the population from being aware of their health, and late diagnosis eventually results in blindness.

Ways that organizations are addressing the problems:

The Vietnam National Institute of Ophthalmology (VNIO) and the Ministry of Health are focused on improving eye care for the population.  To this aim, they have set out plans such as: increasing access to comprehensive eye care in rural communities, developing national institutions concentrating on blindness prevention services and providing ophthalmic training, and encouraging early diagnosis and treatment of pediatric ophthalmic diseases.

Other partners of the VNIO include ORBIS, a non-profit global organization that has a large presence in Vietnam.  ORBIS established many “firsts” in Vietnam eye care.  Some of their most notable contributions include designing a model of rural eye care, establishing Vietnam’s first national eye bank, and funding the first wet lab in Vietnam so that ophthalmologists can practice surgeries on animals before performing the procedures on patients.  ORBIS is also one of the main contributing members in initiating the development of VISION 2020 in Vietnam.

Vision 2020

Vision 2020 is a global effort to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020.  The national committee–composed of NGOs and INGOs, the Vietnamese Ministry of Health, provincial representatives, and many eye care organizations in Vietnam–has developed a plan of action.  This national plan has been recently approved by the Minister of Health on September 11, 2009.  The aims of the plan are to:

1. Build up boards in charge of anti-blindness activities at district and province level

2. Control avoidable and treatable eye diseases such as cataracts, trachoma, and vitaminosis A

3.  School refractive errors by 2020

4. Train eye care workers in districts and provinces, including cataract surgeons, glaucomatologists, diabetic retinopathy specialists, pediatrics, and cornea experts

5. Develop hi-tech eye surgeries such as vitreo-retinal surgery, keratoplasty, etc.

Personal Notes

While there exists a significant amount of effort to alleviate eye diseases, the problems still remain and grow.  Hopefully by the year 2020, many of these problems will be resolved, but this is impossible without the help of students and professionals.  Working at an eye institute, I see how eye diseases affect people’s quality of life.  I hope that some of you will get involved in restoring sight back to people’s lives, whether it be donating a pair of old eye lasses at a local charity drive or doing work internationally.  Get out there and get involved!  🙂  Contact me if you would like to get involved with some activities to help contribute to Vision2020:  isabella.lai@post.harvard.edu