On October 8, 2015, the American University of Armenia (AUA) Garo Meghrigian Institute for Preventive Ophthalmology (Meghrigian Institute) celebrated World Sight Day (WSD) by organizing free eye screenings for the children living at the Gavar Children’s Home (mankatun). The screenings were done within the framework of this year’s WSD international theme of “Universal Eye Health,” with the call to action “Eye Care for All.”
The staff of the Meghrigian Institute visited Gavar Children’s Home, which currently serves 64 school-age children, with the hope of reducing the incidence of blindness and visual impairment due to refractive errors and eye diseases. Fifty five children participated in detailed eye screenings. Out of those who participated, 10 children were found to suffer from different types of refractive errors such as nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism. The effected children received free eyeglasses courtesy of the Meghrigian Institute. Sixteen children were diagnosed with different eye pathologies including infections, allergic conjunctivitis, amblyopia, blepharitis and aniridia. All children with eye diseases received free ophthalmic consultation and treatment from the Meghrigian Institute.
World Sight Day is an annual day of awareness held on the second Thursday of October to focus global attention on blindness and vision impairment.
Media coverage: http://www.mediamax.am/am/news/society/15652/
The AUA School of Public Health works actively to improve the health of the populace and health services in Armenia and the region through interdisciplinary education and development of public health professionals and others to be leaders in public health, health services research and evaluation, and health care delivery and management.
