IERG Abstracrt Book.indd - LV Prasad Eye Institute

Invited Talks19patients. The work is continuing with the use of Bispecific antibody on retinoblastoma tumorand delivery of suicide gene and now Symporter gene therapy followed by radioactive iodideusing a specific tissue specific Promoter.Invited talks, Session III, Community Eye Health,July 31, 2010, 14.30 - 16.00 hrsChairs: Vinay Nangia and Ajit B MajjiIIT 005Health Systems Approach to Eye CareGVS MurthyIndian Institute of Public Health, South Asia Centre for Disability Inclusive Development &Vision Research, PHFI, Hyderabad, India.A health system consists of all organizations and people whose primary intent is to promote,restore or maintain health. WHO recommends that a health systems perspective in developingcountries would increase efficiency and effectiveness of health services and optimize benefitsfrom available resources. The health system approach is as relevant to eye care as it is to anyother health service.A health system approach involves paying attention to 6 ‘building blocks’. These include servicedelivery, health workforce, health information systems, health financing including financial riskprotection, technology and leadership/governance. The objective of health systems approach isto ensure equitable access and universal coverage while providing services of high quality andunquestionable safety.Eye Care is an excellent case study for a health systems framework. The adoption of theVISION2020: Right to Sight initiative by the Government and NGO consortia paved the wayfor augmented service delivery with equity being the cornerstone of eye care service delivery inthe country. There is a need to evaluate the eye health workforce in terms of its responsiveness, skill and adequacy. It is evident that there is a gap in relation to skills and adequacy across thecountry and using a health systems approach can help to identify what needs to be done toimprove the situation. Eye health information systems need to be strengthened further and thesearch for appropriate technology to reach out to the population need attention. Financial riskprotection efforts in the country were initiated during the early 1990s but universal access hasnot yet been achieved. Dynamic leadership has guided the success of the eye care services inthe country but issues related to governance, especially in the public sector need attention.