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5
Point Program
The
cornerstone of
the Five Point
Initiative— includes
a clinical teaching
program with U.S.
physicians; a Fellowship
Program—nine fellows
trained at U.S.
institutions; continuing
education programs
and attendance
at U.S. Academy
of Ophthalmology
meetings; teaching
conferences; and
a training program
for more than 1,000
primary care and
regional ophthalmologists
in partnership
with USAID. To
facilitate training,
the AECP Education
Center—with the
Haig Babikian Ophthalmological
Library and a Diagnostic
Center—was launched
in 2005 and the
following year,
thanks to an extraordinary
donation from Pfizer,
an electronic teaching
lab.
Provided
by U.S. physicians
traveling to Armenia
twice each year
on Medical Missions;
at six specialty
clinics in Yerevan
directed by AECP
Fellows—Retina,
Glaucoma, Corneal-Uveitis,
Neuro-Orbital,
Pediatrics and
Low Vision; and
on a Mobile Eye
Hospital that travels
country-wide. Delivered
to Armenia in 2002,
the Mobile Eye
Hospital is a 14-ton,
state-of-the-art
eye clinic on wheels.
The 48-foot long,
408 square-foot
mobile facility
houses an operating
room and two examination
rooms providing
eye care to thousands
of children and
adults each year
as charitable services
with no cost to
the Armenian people.
A
key component of
the Project’s strategy
to eliminate preventable
blindness—has been
designed to promote
healthy behaviors
and lifestyles
focusing on prevention
and early intervention.
Targeted programs
include identification
and treatment of
children’s eye
disorders such
as Strabismus,
which must be treated
before the age
of six; occupational
safety to encourage
the use of safety
glasses; and common
signs of illness
and risk factors
of eye disease.
To this end the
project has distributed
600,000 handouts
on eye care and
produced TV and
radio public service
announcements (PSA’s)
along with a number
of other media
activities.
Through
the incorporation of
research into the eye
care system the Project
is able to further disease
prevention and improve
health. Eye disease
—mainly cataract, glaucoma,
diabetic retinopathy—is
a major public health
problem in Armenia, yet
there is no reliable
data available on eye
and other diseases for
the Armenian population.
To provide the data that
is necessary for designing
the most effective health
and disease prevention
interventions and designing
targeted public communication
strategies, information
is collected during eye
screenings and then analyzed.
Helping
Armenia to develop
an eye care delivery
system, which will
enable them to
independently deliver
quality eye care
to the Armenian
people, is the
Project’s major,
long-term objective.
This is being accomplished
by building their
capacity through
the development
of human and physical
resources with
physician training
programs; facilities—a
mobile hospital,
sub-specialty clinics,
and a $1 million
Pfizer Wet Lab
for training; along
with the delivery
of more than $18
million in medical
equipment and supplies
provided by U.S.
medical manufacturing
and pharmaceutical
companies and individual
donors. |
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