Screening and Health Education Campaign Success!
Following a two-year delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were delighted to launch our long-awaited free eye screening and health education programme in December 2021 to January 2022 with these specific objectives:
- Screening for diseases and conditions which may cause blindness
- Provide treatment for locally identified diseases, provide advice and encourage people to come to the Interim Eye Centre for further investigation and treatment
- Provide eye health education to prevent eye diseases
- Raise awareness of the ophthalmic services available in Ouesso
Training and role-play preparation for screenings; team cap and uniform; Joyce putting posters up on the board; Sabin and Joyce at radio station recording the advertisement; student Franck writing the date and time of the screening on the sign
We held screening days in four different locations around Ouesso during December and January:
- 9 December 2021 at Place de la Cathédrale (La Place Rouge)
- 23 December 2021 at Congo Telecom / Radio Beni
- 30 December 2021 at Mambeke Boucher School
- 13 January 2022 l’Église Evangélique du Congo (Congo Evangelical Church)
The events were advertised using leaflets, loudspeakers, and two local radio stations. The first screening, on 9 December, was attended by around 200 people. The nursing students demonstrated their skills as they worked alongside the rest of the team to assess patients. The staff and trainees tested the participants’ visual health while Henri and eye nurse Esperence examined their eyes. The team arranged follow-up consultations if needed. The team served 592 patients over the four screening days. The most common conditions diagnosed during the screening were refractive errors (e.g. presbyopia, hyperopia, myopia, and astigmatism), allergic conjunctivitis, pterygium, cataract, and pinguecula.
Students test the vision of elderly patient at Place Rouge screening
In these videos, watch the interviews of two English-speaking patients, Jesse and Vincent, who came to our screening at Congo Telecom / Radio Beni and hear how they waited years for help with sight problems because there was nowhere else to go.
Screening 3 at Mambeke Boucher School: Joyce and lady who was first to arrive at 6am and offered to help; patients getting tested with the eye chart; mother and child listening to Henri’s advice; student Annita trying the prescription for a patient
Screening 4 at Ouesso Evangelical Church: patient’s view of the eye chart test; several eye chart tests going on outside the church; Henri examining 8-year-old Mamadou’s eyes; student sharing eye health information with patients.
Father and son, both named Mamadou, came to our screening at Ouesso Église Évangélique (Ouesso Evangelical Church) for help with eye problems. We interviewed little 8-year-old Mamadou with a little bit of help from Mamodou Senior:
We have an illustrious list to thank for making this campaign possible:
- Our students and team who rose to the challenge and shone like stars.
- Our four venues which allowed us to set up camp for our 4 screening days:
- Ouesso Catholic Church
- Congo Telecom / Radio Beni
- Evangelical Church of Ouesso Congo (l’Église Évangélique du Congo)
- the local schools l’École Catholique and l’École Mambeke Boucher
- The churches that lent us their benches:
- Ouesso Elim Church (l’Eglise Elim)
- Ouesso Catholic Church
- Evangelical Church of Ouesso Congo (l’Église Évangélique du Congo)
- Communion of the Saints – The Holy Life church (Communion des Saints – la Vie Saint)
- The crew who helped us cut wood to make the DIY tent and who on the day before every screening day, would prepare and dig the ground, set up the tent and afterwards dismantle it. It is hard work under the equatorial sun!
- The crew who made several trips to help us transport the furniture and equipment
- The local authorities from the Prefet (the governor), the Mayor, and the police, to the Department of Health.
Thank you for your support!
The 4 screening locations: La Place Rouge; Congo Telecom / Radio Beni; Mambeke Boucher School ; Congo Evangelical Church
Thank you transport crew and tent-making crew for screenings