Adzaho Christopher Senyo, Appiah-Brempong Emmanuel, Acheampong Princess Ruhama, Ekutor Ernest
Department of Health Promotion and Disability Studies, School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
Eye Department, St John of God Hospital, Duayaw Nkwanta, Ghana.
Front Public Health. 2024 Dec 6;12:1468285. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1468285. eCollection 2024.
Globally, 19 to 22 million children are visually impaired. A huge number of children therefore will not be able to learn effectively even if the best educational institutions are made available to them. This ultimately leaves a potential negative effect on their quality of life, educational opportunities and livelihoods. School health programs (SHPs) present a unique opportunity to provide comprehensive eye health services to children. This study assessed the availability of School Eye Health Programs (SEHPs) in a municipality in Ghana.
In a cross-sectional study, semi-structured questionnaires and interview guides were used to collect data from 60 head teachers, 17 school health coordinators, and 7 key health workers.
No school in the municipality had a comprehensive SEHP being implemented. However, over 60% of schools had at some point introduced at least one component of SEHP, mainly Vitamin A supplementation and vision screening. Community and Public Health Nurses are the commonly used human resource for such programs. There were no available guidelines for program implementation and no systems in place for ensuring follow-up visits and provision of spectacles to those with refractive errors. Key barriers identified included the lack of financial resources and adequately trained personnel.
Comprehensive school eye health programs are unavailable in the study area and there is an urgent need for their implementation to avert the potential adverse effects of vision impairment on the education of children.
全球范围内，有1900万至2200万儿童存在视力障碍。因此，即使为大量儿童提供了最好的教育机构，他们中的许多人仍无法有效学习。这最终会对他们的生活质量、教育机会和生计产生潜在的负面影响。学校健康计划（SHPs）为向儿童提供全面的眼部健康服务提供了独特的机会。本研究评估了加纳一个市政当局的学校眼部健康计划（SEHPs）的可用性。
在一项横断面研究中，使用半结构化问卷和访谈指南从60名校长、17名学校健康协调员和7名关键卫生工作者那里收集数据。
该市政当局没有一所学校正在实施全面的SEHP。然而，超过60%的学校在某个时候至少引入了SEHP的一个组成部分，主要是维生素A补充和视力筛查。社区和公共卫生护士是此类计划常用的人力资源。没有可用的计划实施指南，也没有确保随访以及为屈光不正患者提供眼镜的系统。确定的主要障碍包括缺乏财政资源和训练有素的人员。
研究区域没有全面的学校眼部健康计划，迫切需要实施这些计划，以避免视力障碍对儿童教育产生潜在的不利影响。
