News and notices. February 02, 2014

Responding to non-communicable eye diseases through the eye health system

A photographer working with a mobile clinic team takes fundus images in a rural hospital. Pictures are graded by ophthalmologists and residents in the referral hospital. If need be, patients are informed and offered further examination and treatment in the referral hospital. Image credit: Cristóvão Matsinhe
A photographer working with a mobile clinic team takes fundus images in a rural hospital. Pictures are graded by ophthalmologists and residents in the referral hospital. If need be, patients are informed and offered further examination and treatment in the referral hospital. Image credit: Cristóvão Matsinhe

Providing services for non-communicable eye diseases (NCEDs) is challenging and complex, for example requiring screening and approaches to case finding, patient counselling and long-term follow-up. In this article we look at how the whole health system – as it applies to eye health – must be considered in order to offer adequate services for NCEDs. The World Health Organization says the following about health systems: ‘A good health system delivers quality services to all people, when and where they need them.’

Read more about how the health system can be engaged to address NCEDs in our article “Getting ready to cope with non-communicable eye diseases.”