FIMA Year Book 2010-2011 - Federation of Islamic Medical ...

COLLABORATIVE MODEL
To date, three eye hospitals have been established,
one each in Africa, South Asia and South East
Asia.
This paper focuses on the Sudanese experience at
al-Genaina, Darfur, West, Sudan as a case
example for the model and its unique approach.
West Darfur is one of the three parts of Darfur
province of Sudan. al-Genaina is the capital and
major city. The western porous borders of this
province is with the Republic of Chad. This area
has been under social conflict for centuries, and
has been in a state of civil war since 2004. This
situation deprived the area from all sorts of
developmental activities. Health is the most
neglected area, and eye care facilities were totally
non-existent till the year 2006.
All types of chronic eye diseases were prevalent,
among which cataract was dominating. Huge
backlog of bilateral blinds due to cataract were
waiting in this area.
Sudan as a whole is deficient in eye surgeons but
this area was totally deprived of any eye surgeon.
The population of Sudan according to population
statistics of 2003 is approximately 37 million, with
an annual growth rate of 2.6%. 3
Darfur West has a population of around two
million. Out of these 30,000 are estimated to be
blind, with an estimated minimum of 18,000 cases
of cataract.
Cataract, as a leading cause of blindness around
the globe, holds true for Sudan as well. It is
estimated that cataract represents 60% out of all
cases of blindness there. Irrespective of its type,
cataract is present in all regions of Sudan. The
Backlog of cataract cases in the country is
estimated to be around 350,000. 4
Cataract surgical rate (CSR) in Sudan was 830 in
2004. 4 Sudan aims to achieve a CSR of 2500 by
the year 2010. 4 The target, though not that high,
might be quite difficult to achieve given the
problems and constraints the Sudanese Eye Care
System is having. The core problems and
constraints of the Sudanese eye care system may
be summarized as follows:
- Weak infrastructure, particularly in the area
of eye care.
- Few qualified and skilled human resources
(HR) for eye care.
- Mal-distribution of the available HR.
Sudan, in 2003, had only 160 ophthalmologists -
of whom 110 were deployed in the capital territory
Khartoum- and only 50 were scarcely dispersed in
the remaining parts of Sudan. The West Darfur
province was conspicuous by the absence of a
single ophthalmologist even as late as 2005. 3
In this backdrop, the Save Vision activities of
FIMA were started in Sudan in the early months
of 2005.
Aim:
- To develop a sustainable support system for
prevention of blindness, focusing on cataractrelated
blindness, in this resourcesconstrained
Sudanese province.
Strategic Objectives:
- Improving the CSR, and thus reduce the
cataract backlog in the country
- Creating and/or strengthening the eye care
infrastructure in the country
- Capacity building of the eye care HR in the
country
Methodology:
The action model for the achievement of these
strategic objectives initially started as a
collaborative activity in the form of private to
private partnership at the international level, i.e.,
social worker individuals/organizations/welfare
groups in the host country (Sudan) on one hand,
and FIMA on the other hand.
Neglected and marginalized locations of the
country were preferred over central locations for
the intervention, in deliberate attempt at balancing
the existing care bias towards major cities where
the country’s Eye Care HR is largely concentrated.
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