Confident eye health professionals at every level are essential to building sustainable eye care services. From eye screener to optometrist we educate across the spectrum.

For 1.22 million people the daily reality is that eye care services are either not available or unable to provide the treatment that is required to improve their eyesight. This results in people not being able to see well enough to work and children not seeing well enough to study. The flow on effect that negatively impacts not only an individual’s life but entire families, communities and the economy.

Education underpins all our eye care programs in Australia, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region. Only through education can we build local capacity, thereby creating sustainable solutions for addressing avoidable and preventable blindness. Over the past 22 years, educational resources developed by the Foundation have been used to train eye care personnel in more than 60 countries across three continents.

Our education and training methods are cultural orientated and specific in each location. They include short and comprehensive courses aimed at providing eye health workers with the knowledge and skills necessary to perform accurate refractions and prescribe and provide appropriate spectacles.

We develop and deliver educational resources to inform and provide eye health workers with the knowledge and skills necessary to perform accurate refractions, prescribe and provide appropriate spectacles. Diagrams, pictures, flow charts and case studies are used to explain key concepts and procedures. Uncomplicated language is used throughout, to accommodate trainees from non-English speaking backgrounds, and to simplify translation into other languages.

To ensure that affordable and accurate spectacles are available in developing countries, the Foundation has also developed a training course for spectacle technicians. Once completed, trainees have the knowledge and skills to take basic facial measurements, as well as fit and edge spectacles.

To enhance the effectiveness of the vision centre model and to complement established refraction and spectacle technician courses, the Foundation developed a Vision Centre Management Training Program.  The program is aimed at personnel who manage day-to-day functions of a vision centre or eye care facility.

Our vision centre staff are taught necessary operational, administrative and financial management processes and systems as well as given operational tools and templates. This training is tailored to suit country needs whilst maintaining proper governance and processes to increase sustainability. 

The program has been implemented in projects in Papua New Guinea, Cambodia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Malawi, Tanzania and Zanzibar.

Human Resources

Eye care personnel, who can refract, dispense, undertake primary eye care and detect blinding diseases

Affordable Technology

Spectacles and low vision aids

Sustainable Infrastructure

Vision care outlets including spectacle workshops

People who can see

Current education and training courses

For 1.22 million people the daily reality is that eye care services are either not available or unable to provide the treatment that is required to improve their eyesight. This results in people not being able to see well enough to work and children not seeing well enough to study. The flow on effect that negatively impacts not only an individual’s life but entire families, communities and the economy.

Education underpins all our eye care programs in Australia, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region. Only through education can we build local capacity, thereby creating sustainable solutions for addressing avoidable and preventable blindness. Over the past 22 years, educational resources developed by the Foundation have been used to train eye care personnel in more than 60 countries across three continents.

Our education and training methods are cultural orientated and specific in each location. They include short and comprehensive courses aimed at providing eye health workers with the knowledge and skills necessary to perform accurate refractions and prescribe and provide appropriate spectacles.

We develop and deliver educational resources to inform and provide eye health workers with the knowledge and skills necessary to perform accurate refractions, prescribe and provide appropriate spectacles. Diagrams, pictures, flow charts and case studies are used to explain key concepts and procedures. Uncomplicated language is used throughout, to accommodate trainees from non-English speaking backgrounds, and to simplify translation into other languages.

To ensure that affordable and accurate spectacles are available in developing countries, the Foundation has also developed a training course for spectacle technicians. Once completed, trainees have the knowledge and skills to take basic facial measurements, as well as fit and edge spectacles.

To enhance the effectiveness of the vision centre model and to complement established refraction and spectacle technician courses, the Foundation developed a Vision Centre Management Training Program.  The program is aimed at personnel who manage day-to-day functions of a vision centre or eye care facility.

Our vision centre staff are taught necessary operational, administrative and financial management processes and systems as well as given operational tools and templates. This training is tailored to suit country needs whilst maintaining proper governance and processes to increase sustainability. 

The program has been implemented in projects in Papua New Guinea, Cambodia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Malawi, Tanzania and Zanzibar.

Acknowledgement of Country

Brien Holden Foundation acknowledges the traditional Aboriginal custodians of the many lands that we live and work on, and their continuing connection to Country and culture.

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