This project is supported by the L'OCCITANE Foundation.
Context
Malaysia and Vietnam rank at the bottom of the human development indices. Expenditure on health, calculated as a percentage of GDP, is 5.29% in Vietnam and 3.83% in Malaysia, and is much lower than the recommendations of the World Health Organization, which recommends spending 6% from GDP to health, to be able to provide basic and survival services. Today, more than 60% of the Vietnamese population and 22% of the Malaysian population live in rural areas and have insufficient and inequitable access to eye care services.
Poor care, long waiting times, poor safety and low patient satisfaction are some of the health system challenges highlighted by the WHO.
Supported Project
From 2023 to 2026, the L'OCCITANE Foundation partners with the Brien Holden Foundation on a three-year project aiming at reducing avoidable blindness and uncorrected visual impairment among disadvantaged children living in rural and remote communities of targeted districts. By developing an adequate and equitable access to comprehensive eye health care through an Integrated People-Centered Eye Care approach, the project seeks to reach in priority the previously unreached children (from age 6 to 18). The project will partner with public/private organisations to achieve this goal. Partners’ capacity building, systems strengthening, awareness raising and advocacy for sustainability of the project’s interventions are key implementation strategies.
The objectives are:
- To develop and advocate for children's eye health to be integrated and promoted in the countries' health system and to occupy a place within government policies.
- To provide vision screenings, refraction services and strengthen referral systems.
- To improve knowledge of eye care, particularly among families, through promotion and awareness campaigns.
Uncorrected refractive error is the major cause of avoidable vision impariment globally and among children in both countries. Therefore, this project will directly provide refraction correction services while other causes of vision impariment and blindness will be referred to public and private eye health facilities.
Some Figures
Budget 600,000 euros
Goal 83,200 beneficiaries
Result year 1 (2023-2024) 8,579 beneficiaries
