PEDIATRIC OPTOMETRICS

Faculty of Health Sciences (FMPOS–UCAD) in Dakar, SENEGAL

One quarter of the content of the University Diploma in Pediatric Ophthalmology is dedicated to optics and optometrics and is taught by our team of pediatric optometrists.

The first ten years in a human being is the key for all the organs and the structure of the human body development, especially for the organ of vision. During this period of time whichever variation, pathology or lack of stimulation, is just enough to have and impact on the good development of human visual function.

Training pediatric optometrists is essential to achieve a good development and an optimal visual system in the maturity. The lack of visual health professionals may represent a greater number of visually impaired being dependent in their adulthood. Therefore, the role of the pediatric optometrist not only consist in the child visual attention, but also guarantee the future visual health population to develop an active and healthy society.

CONTEXT AND SITUATION IN SENEGAL

According to data from the Senegal United States (2019), it is among the poorest in the world. It is ranked 166 of 189 countries in the Human Development Index (HDI) . The median life expectancy of its population is 67 years. Its birth rate has been one of the highest in the world with an average of more than 5 children per mother (greater in rural areas) for more than three decades. The high sustained level of fertility reflects the inequality of gender, the low use of contraceptives, early marriages and maternity, and the lack of education, especially among women. Its GDP per inhabitant in 2018 was 355€/year, in Spain was 25.730€, equivalent to 72 times less than in our country.

Population

SENEGAL

SPAIN

GDP per inhabitant (€)

(Gross Domestic Product)

SENEGAL

SPAIN

Human Development Index (HDI)

SENEGAL

SPAIN

Inequality-adjusted HDI

SENEGAL

SPAIN

Life expectancy

SENEGAL

SPAIN

HDI Ranking

of a total of 189 countries

SENEGAL

SPAIN

Gender Development Index (GDI)

SENEGAL

SPAIN

VISUAL HEALTH CONTEXT

According to data from the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB-WHO), the prevalence of blindness was estimated at 1.4% in 2018, which equates to 140,000 blind people and 420,000 visually impaired, 75% of these cases being curable or avoidable, being decades of the ratio of 0.15% of our country.

They count with just 112 Advanced Ophthalmology Technicians (AOT) for the whole country, 1 per 142,857, in Spain we have 17,000, 1 per 2,765 people. In other words: