Paediatric Optometry screenings
Senegal
Are children's optometric check-ups really that important?
90% of vision problems can be solved simply by wearing glasses. Simply?…not so much.
In Europe, we have optometrists and opticians at our fingertips, but the situation is very different in Senegal or Mozambique:
- The lack of optometrists leaves the vast majority of children unattended, particualrly in rural areas.
- Inadequate training of these professionals leads to frequent optical correction prescription errors.
How do these screenings take place?
We take advantage of our training trips to carry out a large number of paediatric optometric examinations in schools located in underprivileged neighbourhoods or in orphanages: in addition to providing much-needed visual care, we teach the optometry students who come with us how to perform children’s visual acuity tests.
We carry out practical retinoscopy with real patients: a very important examination to determine the patient’s refractive status (i.e. whether they need glasses or not).
Finally, we show how to carry out a good visual screening, which is very necessary in countries where there is no culture of going to the doctor for a preventive check-up, but only when the problem is already evident. Early detection of alterations in the visual system allows them to be treated more quickly and efficiently.
