ICEE COLLABORATIONS INCREASE VISION CENTRES IN CAMBODIA BY 5

Five new Vision Centres open across provincial Cambodia in August, thanks to the International Centre for Eyecare Education (ICEE) partnerships with local organisations, and funding from the Australian Government Avoidable Blindness Initiative (ABI). The Vision Centres are opening in the provinces of Battambang, Kampot, Banteay Meanchey, Kampong Cham and Pursat. The five provinces may vary in location and population but they all have one strong similarity; until now their communities have had limited access to an affordable pair of spectacles prescribed by a local optometrist.

The scheduled increase in vision care delivery through regional Cambodia follows the 2010 official launch of the ABI at the Australian Embassy in Phnom Penh. In the 2011 federal budget, the Australian Government reaffirmed its commitment to eliminating avoidable blindness and vision impairment in the Asia Pacific with the announcement of AU$21.3 million dedicated to the next phase of development.

H.E. Dr Mam Bunheng, Minister of Health for Cambodia, expressed his appreciation to the Australian Government for funding further development of vision care services in his country. "Only by expanding eye care services across Cambodia can we hope to make an impact on the high levels of vision impairment and blindness in our country," he said. "The Ministry of Health acknowledges the work the non-government organisations with the ABI funding, helping our people achieve an alternative to living their lives with disabling vision impairments."

The ABI funding is managed by Vision 2020 Australia's Global Consortium, a partnership of nine Australian eye health and vision care organisations including ICEE, working towards eliminating avoidable blindness and vision loss in the Asia Pacific region. The extra funding is crucial for further expansion of sustainable vision care programmes in Cambodia in an effort to rebuild health systems depleted by decades of civil unrest.

Professor Brien Holden, CEO of ICEE expressed his support for the progress in Cambodia. "Without basic eye examinations, blindness and vision impairment is often left undetected, in many cases until it is too late, when lives have been dramatically affected. The new Vision Centres will offer affordable eye care, referral and refractive services to the local communities across five provinces."

Dr Suit May Ho, Programme Manager for ICEE Cambodia, was an integral part of the first ICEE Vision Centre in Cambodia launched in Phnom Penh during 2009. Since then, Dr Ho and in-country ICEE staff, have been working on building local capacity and developing educational eye care resources to facilitate service delivery to both urban and rural communities in most need.

"The Consortium's collaborative approach is proving to be an effective platform for the delivery of a wide range of eye health and vision care programmes in Cambodia. I am excited by the prospect of the increase we will see this year. The ongoing training of local eye care workers is slowly but surely increasing the accessibility of eye care and now the reach is also spreading across more rural and remote locations in Cambodia," said Dr Ho.

Each of the five new Vision Centres operates as a working collaboration between ICEE and one or more provincial funding partners. Collaborative organisations include; the Ministry of Health (MOH), the International Resources for Improvement of Sight (IRIS) and the SEVA Foundation.

For interviews and further information please contact:

Local Cambodian media contact: Somatheavy Khou, Country Representative, ICEE:
Email: s.khou@icee.org Tel: + 855 23 993 260 Mobile: +855 77 88 46 87

Australian media contact: Selina Madeleine, Communications Manager, ICEE:
Email: s.madeleine@icee.org Tel: +612 9385 5282 Mobile: +61 414 071149