SSDN – ORBIS Initiative It may be mentioned that the project has also carried out the first blind school survey in North East India in collaboration with the National Program for Control of Blindness & Visual Impairment, Govt of India, Project Dristi, Association for Blind, Reliance India. Under the survey, 12 Blind Schools of the North East were covered and a total of 379 children were screened. This helped establish a database of Visually Impaired Children of this region. Moreover, public awareness programs and seminars have been organized under the aegis of the SSDN – ORBIS project. SSDN has been organizing painting and poster competitions and free eye check-ups for children on occasions like Children’s Day, World Sight Day etc. For these project activities, SSDN had received support from the ORBIS country office. Locally, the project team has been collaborating with both, Government Agencies and Community Service Organizations like Composite Regional Centre, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Assam, District Blindness Control Society, Block Development Officers, Office of the Sub-Divisional Commissioners, Social Welfare Department, Asom Sarva Siksha Abhijan, ASHA, Bharat Vikas Parishad, Pratyush, Pragati, Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra, Don Bosco Guwahati, STEPS, Lions Club and Rotary International. The press and electronic media houses have been very supportive in increasing the level of awareness among the people regarding childhood blindness. The Times of India, The Telegraph, Delhi Doordarshan Kendra, NDTV in the National level; and NETV, Prag Channel, The Assam Tribune, The Sentinel etc. at the regional level, are actively involved in the process of spreading awareness on childhood blindness. The successful completion of the SSDN – ORBIS project brought about a new beginning for pediatric eye care to the communities of North East India.
Training of Community Health Workers can bring a change in the eye care scenario of the community, improve the health care seeking behavior and eliminate false beliefs and unscientific health practices amongst the local communities. Many dedicated personnel have thus been appointed to ensure regular training programs. 1. Community Health Workers training in the last 7 years – 68 sessions and 40 Health Workers 2. Eye Banking awareness workshop – 230 3. Glaucoma awareness sessions – 18 sessions, 40 Health Workers and several other local NGOs 4. Children Program on eye health awareness and art competition – 3 All programs are continued on a regular basis. ASHA and ICDS Workers Training on Community Eye Health
SSDN regularly conducts ASHA & ICDS workers workshop from different blocks of Assam once in a year since 2015. The aim of this training program is to strengthen the primary health workers’ eye health and networking skills.
SSDN Kamrup Amblyopia Project Under this project, 39651 school children were specially screened for amblyopia. SSDN extended the facility free of cost to the school children and conducted awareness programs for the parents, students and the community. Amblyopia is a serious eye problem but with proper treatment, blindness can be prevented. Children below 5 years of age, under 11 Police Stations of Kamrup (Metro) have been screened. All school-going and non school-going children in the project area were covered.
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