Starting Point
In Sao Tome and Principe there was no eye care since 1975, the date of independence. Consequently, the prevalence of blindness in the nation, in 2010, was 1% and the prevealence of low vision was 2.8 %, whereas the cases with age inferior to 50 years accounted for 18.3 % and 26 % respectively.
In 1988, the IMVF, in close partnership with the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs of Sao Tome and Principe,launched the Health for All Programme, designed to support the delivery of quality primary healthcare in the archipelago and the definition and implementation of major health policies. From 2008, the intervention of IMVF started to progressively integrate medical healthcare of 17 medical specialties.
It is in this context that iSee is launched: a national programme of prevention and treatment of eye diseases, designed based on a rapid epidemiological assessment of the eye pathologies in the country.
Faced with the impossibility of securing medical experts on the islands, iSee structured its intervention, primarily, in short term field missions of specialised teams, with comprehensive eye care and high level of operational efficiency.
Today, these missions are complemented with remote consultations through a teleophthalmology platform.
Furthermore, iSee designed its action with the awareness of the need to offer a strong component of training and motivation to the local technical staff, fundamental to operate and ensure the continuity of the model.
