While The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ currently focuses the majority of our work in seven countries: Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu; we also provide support to other Pacific small island developing states (SIDS).
SIDS are an important part of Our 2023-2032 Strategy, in terms of supporting these countries with their eye care service needs and working with partner governments to build more responsive and effective eye health systems.
As part of this work, an outreach was conducted in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), a small island state made up of 29 scattered coral atolls and five islands in the Central Pacific Ocean.
The Pacific Eye Institute (PEI) Outreach Team – consisting of two eye doctors, three eye nurses and one administrator – travelled from Fiji and spent 10 days working with the local team at the RMI Hospital to screen 340 people.
Once patients were screened, the team were able to provide sight-restoring surgery to 97 people.
This outreach was vital for the people of the Marshall Islands, a nation with a population of approximately 42,000 – that currently has no local eye doctor or dedicated eye nurses.
Team Leader and Consultant Ophthalmologist Dr Mundi Qoqonokana says there is great need for eye care services in RMI, with 93 cataract diagnoses and 53 cases of diabetes eye disease detected during their visit.
“A lot of diabetes retinopathy (DR) cases presented to eye clinic,” he says. “An eye doctor and eye nurse are urgently needed to meet the country’s eye care needs, as visiting teams cannot provide the continuation of care needed for eye patients with DR.”
This outreach was made possible with support from The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS).
