Evaluating eye health care services progress towards VISION 2020 goals in Gurage Zone, Ethiopia

Abstract

Background Ethiopia signed the VISION 2020 Global Declaration and launched its eye health program in 2002. Since then, there has been limited systematic and comprehensive evaluation of the progress towards VISION 2020 goals in Ethiopia. Objective To evaluate Gurage Zone progress towards VISION 2020 targets and process indicators. Method An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted among all public and private eye health care facilities in the Gurage Zone within the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People Region of Ethiopia. The evaluation protocol was adopted from the VISION 2020 situational analysis data collection tool. We used this structure to evaluate progress in terms of human resources for eye health, infrastructure, and service delivery at the zonal health office and health facilities. At the time of the study, Gurage Zone had a 1.7 million catchment area population. There were a total of five eye care centers, one of which was established by a non-governmental organization. Three of these facilities were secondary eye care centers with an operating theatre and two facilities were primary eye care centers. At the zonal level, there was no survey data available on the prevalence of blindness. Result There was no systemic evaluation of VISION 2020 process indicators. The budget allocation specific to eye health care was less than 0.7% of the total budget of the zonal health office. The human resources for eye health (HReH) in the catchment area were: one ophthalmologist, two cataract surgeons, five optometrists, and 12 ophthalmic nurses, which is below the VISION 2020 targets for HReH. In terms of equipment, neither primary eye care center had a slit lamp biomicroscope, and two of the three secondary eye care centers did not have intraocular pressure measuring equipment. Only one secondary eye care center was providing glaucoma surgical services, and no center provided emergency and elective pediatric surgery. The cataract surgical rate determined by the study was 1967. Conclusion Gurage Zone showed significant improvement in terms of cataract surgical rate. But it had not achieved VISION 2020 goals in terms of critical HReH and service delivery. We recommend that the zonal health office carries out a focused and baseline evaluation of eye health care service achievements.

Assessment of Human Resource for Eye Health Services in Southern Ethiopia.

“…Many factors contribute to this gender gap. These include unequal career opportunities, gender-neutral institutional policies, sex discrimination in recruitment, gender-biased sta ng, increased risk of violence against women workers, and poor working conditions [30][31][32].…”

“…Lack of attention to eye care services and resource allocation ultimately leads to the unavailability of services for patients in a country. The challenge is that eye health is not a priority in Ethiopia, as previously stated by various individuals [33]. Due to the lack of HReH in underserved areas, patients cannot be screened for early detection and treatment of vision problems such as cataracts, glaucoma, refractive errors, and diabetic retinopathy.…”

Unveiling spatial disparities in basic medical and health services: insights from China’s provincial analysis

“…Scholars evaluate basic medical and health services from different regions, target groups, and supply of healthcare services. Soboka et al [ 20 ] utilized cross-sectional data from public and private eye care institutions in Gurage district, Ethiopia, to evaluate the extent to which eye health care services in the region have achieved the objectives of the VISION 2020 Global Declaration. Schmidt et al [ 21 ] investigated the access to healthcare for adolescents (aged 15–25 years) with chronic conditions.…”

Child eye health in Ethiopia: a mixed methods analysis of policy and commitment to action

“…35 36 In the case of Ethiopia, the government has ratified the VISION 2020 declaration and established a national commission for the prevention of blindness that reports to the federal MOH. 37 However the regional health bureau did not establish a VISION 2020 committee, which is one of the top strategies for implementing, managing and evaluating eye health. Similarly, a report from Nigeria suggested that the limited progress on eye health was in part due to programming and implementation challenges, as less than half of its 36 states had a VISION 2020 plan and even fewer had an active Prevention of Blindness committee focused on implementation.…”