In Khatgal Soum a little girl has her vision checked

Optometric services and adequate spectacle provision in Mongolia is limited. According to the Mongolian National plan, uncorrected refractive error is present in both children and adults and accounts for approximately 15% of blindness.

Volunteer service delivery teams visit the country and school screening programmes are conducted but regular eye care, such as the provision of eye examinations, is limited to the more populated provincial centres. There is also a lack of low cost, good quality spectacles in the country.

ICEE seeks to advocate for optometric services in Mongolia by conducting refraction training, spectacle technician training and organising service delivery trips in association with the UNSW School of Optometry preceptorship programme.

There are a number of factors which provide real challenges for potential projects in Mongolia. These include

Extreme climate conditions Modes of transport expensive (flights, in-country travel) Sparse population distribution (51% urbanised). Isolation (difficulty accessing remote marginalised populations) Inadequate roads and increased distance and time of in country travel Relies on China for infrastructure and supplies Under-developed infrastructure: more than half the country is covered by permafrost, which makes construction and road building difficult.

ICEE at Work

In Mongolia, a country with 2.6 million inhabitants that spans 1.57 million km2, access to eye care is often limited to capital cities of its aimags (provinces). With less than five optometrists working in Mongolia, and no training programme for optometry in the country, refraction services are limited and appropriate spectacle provision is mostly confined to the larger centres.

In the world’s most sparsely populated country, the landscape and climate are unforgiving - distances to reach eye care services are made even greater due to poor transportation on inadequate, weather-dependent roads. It’s not surprising then that most Mongolians have never had an eye examination.

Boys race their horses through the beautiful landscape of Hovsgul Province

ICEE Regional Director, Amanda Davis, says that is the reason ICEE is now in Mongolia - to help improve the availability of optometric services such as refraction and dispensing of affordable spectacles within the country. “So far, we've been discussing with the Mongolian Ministry of Health to develop refraction capacity in eye care personnel, and setting up sustainable Vision Centres where we can provide access to much needed eye care,” she said.

Long-time, valued staff member, David Wilson, knows the importance of having qualified personnel. Recently, on the request of the Mongolia Optical Association, he travelled to Mongolia to conduct a Spectacle Technicians training course. The course taught technicians how to correctly and efficiently make, dispense and fit a pair of glasses – a critical element in having sustainable eye care services. “Providing training establishes standards and more importantly it means patients have uncomplicated access to affordable, quality made spectacles,” David said.

In June 2008, ICEE sent optometry preceptorship students from UNSW to the northern Mongolia province of Hovsgol to assist a team of ophthalmic professionals. They screened the vision of over 800 people, referred 288 patients for further treatment and distributed 576 pairs of spectacles.