CELEBRATING WORLD SIGHT DAY IN ARMENIA
Print
E-mail
10/08/2009
Abovian, Kotayk Marz - On October 8, 2009, the Armenian EyeCare Project (AECP) medical team visited the Abovian penitentiary for women to help those with limited access to eye care on the occasion of the World Sight Day, celebrated each October as a public awareness initiative to draw attention to blindness prevention worldwide.
This year the World Sight Day is dedicated to gender and eye health. Nearly two-thirds of blind people worldwide are women and girls, and in several countries their access to eye care is more limited than men’s. In this light, the AECP, the Republic of Armenia Ministries of Justice and Health, and USAID/Armenia collaborated in a joint initiative to raise public awareness of eye health care and provide assistance to women in detention.
As part of this effort, the AECP team examined 103 women and 17 teenagers in the Abovian penitentiary, prescribed appropriate medical treatment, and delivered a special presentation for the imprisoned on basic eye diseases and their symptoms. In addition, public education brochures on eye diseases and eye care hygiene were distributed and 80 out of the 103 women will soon be provided with eye glasses.
“According to global research data, equal access to eye care could substantially reduce blindness in low income countries,” said AECP Country director Nune Yeghiazaryan. She noted that according to the project's 2003-2007 data, women constitute over 50% of AECP beneficiaries, which indicates that overall they have enjoyed equal access to the services provided by the AECP. 73,832 patients (56.8 per cent) from the 130,000 examined by the AECP were women. As well, 52 per cent of the 5,645 Armenian citizens who received surgery on the AECP Mobile Eye Hospital were women. “This year we decided to help the women who have more limitations in their access to eye care and live in a stressful environment,” Yeghiazaryan said. In 2008, the AECP collaborated with the Department of Criminal-Executive Institutions of the RA Ministry of Justice and visited several prisons, screening more than 1000 prisoners, of which 782 were provided with eye glasses.
Within the context of the World Sight Day 2009, the AECP state-of-the-art Mobile Eye Hospital commenced operations in Aragatsotn marz on October 6. The AECP medical group will examine about 60-80 patients per day and will remain in the marz until October 26.
