In addition to Flying Eye Hospital programs, ORBIS conducts training in adult and pediatric ophthalmology at local hospitals and through the awarding of fellowships. This training is in keeping with ORBIS’s overall goal of strengthening the capacity of local institutions to provide quality, affordable eye care, on their own, over the long term.

Hospital-based programs in developing countries

ORBIS hospital-based programs consist of one-to-three-week training sessions provided at local hospitals in developing countries around the world. ORBIS

ORBIS volunteer nurse Mairead English trains a nurse in New Delhi, India

volunteer medical staff use these sessions to train ophthalmologists, nurses, anesthesiologists, biomedical technicians and other essential eye care personnel in the areas of blindness prevention and treatment.

Hospital-based programs:

• Support the particular training needs identified by ORBIS program offices in specific developing countries
• Bridge the gap between visits of the Flying Eye Hospital in countries in which ORBIS does not have a continuous presence
• Extend educational opportunities to developing countries that otherwise would not have access to such training

Training programs are based on ORBIS’s strategic objectives:

• Make quality pediatric ophthalmology care and services available and accessible in developing countries
• Strengthen the infrastructure of preventative and curative eye care services
• Promote individual behaviors and institutional practices that target blindness prevention
• Introduce and/or reform national and global policies and standards

ORBIS trainee in Ethiopia

In fiscal year 2008, ORBIS carried out 48 hospital-based programs in 14 developing countries, including ORBIS’s five priority areas — Bangladesh, China, Ethiopia, India and Vietnam.

ORBIS also conducted blindness prevention and sight restoration training in such countries as Afghanistan, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Nigeria, the Philippines, Serbia and Tanzania.

Topics ranged from cataract and retinal surgery to ophthalmic nursing and eye banking, with pediatric ophthalmology accounting for approximately 40 percent of the training.

Fellowships for eye care professionals from developing countries

Through ORBIS-supported fellowships, talented eye care professionals from developing countries are given the opportunity to undertake advanced study with some of the world’s most renowned experts at leading eye care institutions.

Training is matched to the particular skills and strengths of the fellows, enabling them to develop in their chosen ophthalmic specialty or in areas such as eye banking, primary eye care and hospital administration.

Upon successful completion of a fellowship, the trainee returns home to put newly-acquired expertise into practice. In most cases, the mentor who supported the fellowship will travel to the trainee’s home country to conduct follow-up monitoring, evaluation and training. In 2008, ORBIS supported 28 such fellowships.

You can help

With your support, ORBIS can continue offering fellowships and training sessions to ophthalmic professionals in developing countries. Please donate generously so that others may see.