Closing the Primary Eye Care Gap in Southern India

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Investigator: Jamen Garcia, MS
Sponsor: Global Health Sciences Education

Location(s): India

Description

Mentors: Dhivya Ramasamy and Neelam Feachem 

Glaucoma is one of the only irreversible causes of blindness with over 2.1 million people globally are blind due to glaucoma. Successful prevention occurs through adherence to regimented medications and follow-up visits, which are generally poorly adhered to. To address this, Aravind Eye Hospital in India, the gold standard of eye care in low-resource settings, began building primary eye care centres, called Vision Centres. These centres are placed within communities to allow for better follow-up compliance for glaucoma. This study aimed to assess how effective Vision Centres have been in supporting patients in adhering to glaucoma follow-up recommendations.