Optometry Giving Sight urges OD participation

LAS VEGAS – Here at Optometry’s Meeting, a representative of Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) discussed the progress the coalition has made in providing eye care services to developing countries and the United States.

OGS-USA chair Barry Weiner, OD, addressed the American Optometric Association House of Delegates last Saturday.

“We have made great strides; we now have practices in 45 states,” Dr. Weiner said. “We are starting to see our efforts come to fruition.”

Established in 2003, OGS was a joint effort by the World Optometry Foundation, the International Centre for Eyecare Education and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness. The organization is devoted to providing refractive correction to the 250,000 people worldwide who can’t see clearly because they have no access to spectacle correction.

“Uncorrected refractive error is a tragedy,” Dr. Weiner said. “It can easily be corrected with an eye exam and a pair of glasses.”

Dr. Weiner said the organization visited a school for the blind in Malawi. He said many of the students at this school had been erroneously categorized as blind due to the lack of available visual correction. “There were 100 students there who were learning to live as blind people in a sighted world, who were not blind at all.” Dr. Weiner said. “Once they got a pair of glasses, they could see clearly.”

Dr. Weiner said of the 250,000 people worldwide who suffer from preventable refractive error, 90% of these live in developing countries, and many are children. “This has devastating effects,” he said. “Sixty percent of kids diagnosed as being blind in these countries die within a year.”

Dr. Weiner called the AOA to action in combating this serious worldwide problem. “What does OGS want from AOA?” he asked. “We want your power, we want your expertise. But most of all, we want your partnership and support.”

He urged practitioners to encourage patients to donate to the OGS cause. “If every patient of every OD gives $1, that would be $74 million dollars a year,” he said. “I hope you all take this message back to your colleagues.”