ANGOLA, HELPING-TEACHING-STUDYING
2nd GLOBAL OPHTHALMOLOGY SUMMIT 2019
March 27-28, 2019 | Amsterdam, Netherlands
Luis Vieira
Ocular Eye Care Team, Portugal
Scientific Tracks Abstracts : Ophthalmol Case Rep
Abstract:
Angola has one ophthalmologist per one million people and the vast majority of these professionals are in
the province of Luanda, where around 7 million people live. Although optometry was recognized, Angola
did not have an optometry school and the training of these professionals was acquired either in a self-taught
way or in modular study programs in Cuba, Portugal or Spain. A little over 15 optometrists were identified in
the country in 2012.
Helping: We started our field work in 2014 with the main goal of creating a true primary visual health care
network. After realizing the main limitations of the ophthalmology services, and detecting that more than 50%
of patients presented a refractive case, we joined Portuguese and Mozambican optometrists with Angolan
doctors and nurses and, with the support of the Ocular Eye Care team, we created the first Optometry training
program in 2017.
Teaching: We developed a one year technical training program in Optometry. During the more than 1,400
hours training, health technicians, optometrists, nurses and ocular opticians develop skills in Optometry. We
set a four-year goal (2017-2020) to build an Angolan network of 350 optometrists. The first training program
began in February 2017, and, in the first year, 16 students successfully became new optometrists, contributing
today to a better and more credible visual health care service in the country. In the current academic year, the
school has 40 students in the optometry training.
Studying: Using the technical and human resources created in the first two years of this project (2017-2018),
we defined specific objectives for research study in 2019-2020: 1) to identify how many people in the province
of Luanda are affected by deficiencies of vision resulting from refractive errors, and 2) to determine the prevalence
of refractive errors in people in different age groups.
Biography:
Luis Vieira, 45 years hold, divides his life between Luanda in Angola, and Aveiro, in Portugal. He has a university degree in Physics - Optometry from Beira Interior University, Portugal. He is the founder and manager of OcularEyeCare Company, dedicated to Vision Primary Health Care and Ocular Technicians training programs. As a trainer and as Optometrist he develops work in Portugal and in several Portuguese speaking countries like Angola and Mozambique. He has developed projects in specific areas such as Low Vision (ARP Sub-Vision Office in the Portuguese Retinopathy Association), Contactology (Alcon Vision Care, Portugal). The results of his work led him in 2008 to teach and conduct trainings on Advanced Clinical Optometry in the European University, Madrid. In 2011, he conducted classes in Lúrio University, Mozambique. In Angola, he has been leading training programs since 2010, while also managing the Ocular Eye Care-Angola branch in the last four years. In addition, since 2017, he has coordinated the Optometry training program, a partnership that involves the Luanda Health Technicians Training School.
E-mail: luis.vieira@oculareyecare.co.ao
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