Where we work

Solomon Islands

Ridged with mountainous landscapes and surrounded by coral reefs, much of the population is geographically isolated from health care services.

An introduction to Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands is home to just over 600,000 people, with many living in rural villages and maintaining subsistence livelihoods.

Only one-third of the country's 900 islands are populated, with its largest city, Honiara, home to 70,000 people. The main islands are mountainous, heavily forested and have very limited infrastructure, while many of the outlying, remote islands are atolls or raised coral islands.

Clinics in the Solomon Islands

Regional Eye Centre

What are the eye health problems?

The challenges of delivering health care in Solomon Islands reflect those across other nations in the Pacific region. With low spending on health, low ratios of doctors and nurses to population, poor health infrastructure, environmental vulnerability, and geography that isolates much of the population from health services it can be extremely difficult to receive essential health care.

Our work in Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands has a local eye care workforce trained by us at the Pacific Eye Institute in Fiji and operating from various hospitals and eye clinics across the country.

All Foundation-trained eye doctors and most of the Foundation-trained nurses are based at the Regional Eye Centre in Honiara, which we built, in 2015. With this facility providing increased surgical capacity, the team is working towards eliminating the cataract backlog and helping to address other eye conditions. An outreach team from Honiara provides support to the other eye nurses placed throughout the country, helping deliver eye care services to their communities.

The Regional Eye Centre is off-the-grid, producing energy through its solar panel system.

The team get together to discuss the programme for the day, which will involve consultations, surgeries and follow-ups. — Pride, having his vision tested for the first time at age 44

Progress in sight

Dr Carole Poloso graduated in 2019 from the Pacific Eye Institute with a Master of Medicine in Ophthalmology.
In 2017, a national survey assessing the rates of avoidable blindness was conducted. The results from this survey will provide valuable information which will help us assess the impact. The Foundation has had on eye care in the country to date and inform the development of our programme going forward.

In the Solomon Islands, there are currently:

2 active Foundation-supported eye doctors (of which 1 is a Foundation-sponsored graduate)
4 Foundation-sponsored eye doctor graduates
1 Foundation-sponsored trainee eye doctor
34 active Foundation-supported eye nurses (all Foundation-sponsored graduates)
39 Foundation-sponsored eye nurse graduates

Where we work

<ul class="location-map-tooltip-items"> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">Population 8,776,000</li> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">1 Foundation partner clinic</li> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">1 Foundation eye care training facility</li> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">12 active Foundation-supported eye doctors</li> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">94 active Foundation-supported eye nurses and eye care clinicians</li><hr id="horizontalrule"><li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">In 2021 <ul> <li>1 trainee eye doctor graduated</li> <li>8 eye nurse graduates</li> <li>A gender analysis study was commissioned in Papua New Guinea and the first phase of the research was completed.</li> </ul> </li> </ul>
<ul class="location-map-tooltip-items"> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">Population 669,800</li> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">1 Foundation partner clinic</li> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">2 active Foundation-supported eye doctors</li> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">24 active Foundation-supported eye nurses<hr id="horizontalrule"></li><li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">In 2021<ul> <li>2 eye nurses graduated</li> <li>The National Eye Conference conducted at the Regional Eye Centre was attended by 56 local eye care clinicians from across the country.</li> </ul> </li> </ul>
<ul class="location-map-tooltip-items"> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">Population 299,900</li> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">1 Foundation partner clinic</li> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">1 active Foundation-supported eye doctor</li> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">12 active Foundation-supported eye nurses<hr id="horizontalrule"> </li> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">In 2021<ul> <li>Health promotion resources such as flipcharts and pull-up banners were developed to raise community awareness on diabetes and diabetes eye disease</li> </ul> </li> </ul>
<ul class="location-map-tooltip-items"> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">Population 890,000</li> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">2 Foundation partner clinics</li> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">16 active Foundation-supported eye doctors</li> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">34 active Foundation-supported eye nurses and eye care clinicians</li> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item"><hr>In 2021<ul> <li>2 eye doctors graduated</li><li>1 trainee eye doctor graduated</li><li>The Pacific's first-ever surgical platform that helps perform sight-saving surgeries such as vitreoretinal and phacoemulsification was installed at CWM Hospital</li> </ul> </li> </ul>
<ul class="location-map-tooltip-items"> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">Population 104,500</li> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">1 Foundation partner clinic</li> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">1 Foundation-trained eye doctor (active)</li> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">10 Foundation-trained eye nurses (active) <hr id="horizontalrule"> </li> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">In 2020 <ul> <li>1 eye nurse graduate</li> </ul> </li> </ul>
<ul class="location-map-tooltip-items"> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">Population 197,000</li> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">1 Foundation partner clinic</li> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">1 active Foundation-supported eye doctor</li> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">12 active Foundation-trained eye nurses <hr id="horizontalrule"> </li> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">In 2021<ul> <li>1 eye nurse graduated</li><li>70 primary health workers attended awareness workshops to improve their knowledge about diabetes and diabetes eye disease </li> </ul> </li> </ul>
<ul class="location-map-tooltip-items"> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">Population 117,600</li> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">1 Foundation partner clinic</li> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">1 active Foundation-supported eye doctor</li> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">12 active Foundation-supported eye nurses and eye care clinicians <hr id="horizontalrule"> </li> <li class="h4 location-map-tooltip-item">In 2021<ul> <li>1 eye nurse graduated</li> <li>8 workshops were conducted where 93 primary health workers were upskilled in diabetes eye disease</li> </ul> </li> </ul>