Nguyen Thi Thang, 82, can manage household tasks  following cataract surgery.

In Vietnam, only 10 ophthalmologists are available for every 1 million Vietnamese, with most practicing in large cities.

In rural areas, health workers are usually nurses, who have minimal instruction in eye care and possess scant resources for blindness prevention and treatment. It is in these areas that the majority of Vietnam’s half million blind people reside.

Blindness in Vietnam can be alleviated, though. ORBIS’s work in Vietnam concentrates on:

• Increasing access to comprehensive eye care among rural communities
• Building the capacity of national institutions to take the lead in blindness prevention services and the provision of ophthalmic training
• Pediatric ophthalmology, especially the diagnosis and treatment of retinopathy of prematurity
• Corneal disease, eye banking and corneal donation
• Cataract services 

ORBIS conducted its first hospital-based program in Vietnam in 1997 and opened a permanent office in Vietnam in 2003. Our first Flying Eye Hospital program took place in October 2006.

2008 achievements 

During 2008, through 13  projects:

ORBIS volunteer faculty member Dr. August Reader examines a patient at Ho Chi Minh City Eye Hospital.

• Nearly 7,000 doctors and other eye care staff received training 
  
  
• More than 900,000 people received eye examinations
  
  
• Over 96,000 children and adults received non-surgical ophthalmic medical treatment
  
  
• More than 26,000 eye surgeries were performed
  
  

ORBIS "firsts" in Vietnam

ORBIS has achieved numerous “firsts” regarding eye care in Vietnam:

• ORBIS built the capacity of its local partners in Vietnam to prevent, detect and treat retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), an avoidable disorder caused when premature infants are incubated without proper monitoring of oxygen levels. This was the first project of its kind anywhere in the country.
  
  
• By setting up the first pediatric eye care networks of skilled health personnel across the three provinces of Vietnam, ORBIS has been actively strengthening Vietnam's capacity to address childhood blindness on a national scale.
  
  
• ORBIS designed a model rural eye care project in Phu Tho Province, Vietnam, through which eye care providers are trained to screen, diagnose and treat cataract and other blinding conditions. The first of its kind, no such training or services had previously been available outside of Vietnam’s major cities.
  
  
• ORBIS helped establish Vietnam’s first national eye bank.
  
  
• ORBIS funded the first wet lab in Vietnam, located in the Vietnamese National Institute of Ophthalmology in Hanoi, where ophthalmologists can practice surgical procedures on animal eyes before operating on humans.
  
  
• ORBIS initiated the development of the first working group in Vietnam on VISION 2020 — a global effort to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020. This national committee, consisting of NGOs and INGOs working on eye health as well as the Vietnamese Ministry of Health, provincial representatives and key ORBIS partners, will develop a national plan of action to achieve VISION 2020 goals and objectives throughout Vietnam. 

Our Partners

ORBIS partners in Vietnam include:

Vietnam National Institute of Ophthalmology, Hanoi • Ministry of Health • Provincial Health Departments • Ministry of Education and Training • Ministry of Labor, Invalid and Social Affares • Hai Phong Eye Center • Thai Nguyen Eye Hospital • Phu Tho Center for Prevention and Control of Social Diseases • Ho Chi Minh City Eye Hospital • Da Nang Eye Hospital • Ha Nam Eye Hospital • Vietnam Commission for Population, Family and Children • Can Tho Eye Hospital • Hue Eye Hospital • Nghe An Eye Center • Nghe An General Hospital • Yen Bai Social Disease Control Center • Yen Bai General Hospital • Ninh Binh Social Disease Control Center • Ninh Binh Provincial General Hospital • Ho Chi Minh University of Medicine • Vietnam Red Cross Society • Ha Tinh Eye Station/Center • Ha Tinh General Hospital

Fact File

Population	81,377,0001
Population under 15	31.1%2
Population living below national poverty line	50.9%3
Life expectancy	714
Literacy rate	90.3%5
Rural population	74.2%6
Percentage of total ophthalmologists working in rural areas	No figure available. However, most ophthalmologists work in large cities.7
Approximate number of practicing ophthalmologists	1,0308
GDP per capita	$4829
Health expenditure per capita	$2310
Health expenditure as % of total government expenditure	6.1%11
Prevalence of blindness	0.812
Blind population	651,01613
Prevalence of low vision	1.914
Population with low vision	1,546,16315
Prevalence of blindness under 15 years	0.08316
Leading causes of blindness	Cataract (65%), corneal opacities (7%), glaucoma (6%), childhood blindness (3.6%)17
Leading causes of childhood blindness	Corneal scar, cataract, glaucoma, optic atrophy18
Ophthalmologists per million population	No data19
Number of ophthalmologists	No data20

Footnotes

*Blindness is defined as visual acuity of less than 3/60 or a corresponding visual field loss to less than 10 degrees in the better eye with best possible correction.
** Low vision is defined as visual acuity of less than 6/18 but equal to or better than 3/60, or a corresponding visual field loss to less than 20 degrees in the better eye with best possible correction.