Orthoptics Worldwide Archives - International Orthoptic Association https://internationalorthoptics.org/category/orthoptics-worldwide/ Mon, 30 Mar 2026 08:41:38 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://internationalorthoptics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/favicon-1-150x150.png Orthoptics Worldwide Archives - International Orthoptic Association https://internationalorthoptics.org/category/orthoptics-worldwide/ 32 32 Scope of Practice https://internationalorthoptics.org/2026/03/30/scope-of-practice/ https://internationalorthoptics.org/2026/03/30/scope-of-practice/#respond Mon, 30 Mar 2026 08:41:38 +0000 https://internationalorthoptics.org/?p=4245 Scope of Practice now available for free download in the Standards and Quality Section

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Scope of Practice

now available for free download
in the Standards and Quality Section

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]]> https://internationalorthoptics.org/2026/03/30/scope-of-practice/feed/ 0 Implementing Orthoptic Services in Albania https://internationalorthoptics.org/2023/06/28/implementing-orthoptic-services-in-albania/ https://internationalorthoptics.org/2023/06/28/implementing-orthoptic-services-in-albania/#respond Tue, 27 Jun 2023 22:00:00 +0000 https://www.internationalorthoptics.org/2023/06/28/implementing-orthoptic-services-in-albania/

Dear Colleagues,

As you know we implemented the standardized Orthoptic service in the Public Health System of Albania (the first service performed by a graduated Orthoptist), in the Central Polyclinic of Tirana.

We are still working in many technical issues to bring Orthoptic in higher levels!

It has not been simple, since there were many difficulties in implementing a profession with all his components, but with the excellent support from International Orthoptic Association, we are working and improving our beautiful profession with a lot of passion and dedication!

Albania joins and celebrate this year World Orthoptic Day 2023!

How much work has been done in a few months for the recognition and implementation of Orthoptics in our country!

For the first time we have officially a Clinical Guideline for Orthoptic service with high standards, approved from the Ministry of Health of Albania.

All this, thanks to the great assistance in documents from International Orthoptic Association with an excellent group of dedicated orthoptist experts from many countries. Without their support, no achievement would have been possible, of course, in cooperation with the health institutions of our country.

In collaboration with the Municipality of Tirana we started this year the first Orthoptic screening in Albania. It consists in ascertaining the problems of Strabismus and lazy eye - Amblyopia, relying on the excellent British Orthoptic Society screening models, in the kindergartens of Tirana. 

It has already started to give the first results in awareness, ascertainment and capture at the time of many eye problems in the early pediatric age.

The gratitude of parents in improving the quality of life and vision of children,  (adults no less) and quality health care and screenings, is the greatest reward of all the work done!

A lot of work still needs to be done! I am really grateful to all of you of IOA for all the support during all this process and in the future projects in Albania!

Best regards

Enela Maliqaj, Orthoptist 

Tirana, Albania 
 

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]]> You can read the report from Enela Maliqaj here below.

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]]> https://internationalorthoptics.org/2023/06/28/implementing-orthoptic-services-in-albania/feed/ 0 Volunteers for Gambia Project https://internationalorthoptics.org/2022/08/04/volunteers-for-gambia-project/ https://internationalorthoptics.org/2022/08/04/volunteers-for-gambia-project/#respond Wed, 03 Aug 2022 22:00:00 +0000 https://www.internationalorthoptics.org/2022/08/04/volunteers-for-gambia-project/ The IOA is currently accepting applications from prospective volunteers for a project in Gambia. All expenses related to volunteering (flight, accom. and meals) are covered.

If you are interested in learning more contact the IOA Volunteer Program Director Karen McMain.

Login to the members area to fill in the Application Form. 

https://www.internationalorthoptics.org/programs/exchange-volunteer-program/volunteer-application/?L=0

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]]> https://internationalorthoptics.org/2022/08/04/volunteers-for-gambia-project/feed/ 0 Teaching mission in Rwanda https://internationalorthoptics.org/2022/07/21/teaching-mission-in-rwanda/ https://internationalorthoptics.org/2022/07/21/teaching-mission-in-rwanda/#respond Wed, 20 Jul 2022 22:00:00 +0000 https://www.internationalorthoptics.org/2022/07/21/teaching-mission-in-rwanda/ Kabgayi Eye Unit, May 7-15, 2022

I was asked by “Light for the World Belgium” www.lightfortheworld.be to visit their eye hospital in Kabgayi, Rwanda for a strabismus teaching and strabismus surgery mission with a colleague strabismologist dr Sabine.

Light for the World is an international disability and development NGO who fights against blindness, who wants to improve quality of life of persons with a visual handicap and fights for their rights. Light for the World Belgium works in the Democratic republic of Congo, in Rwanda and in Tanzania. 

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]]> The Kabgayi Eye Unit is one department in Kabgayi Hospital located in Muhanga District. Kabgayi hospital is a Catholic hospital (Catholic diocese of Kabgayi), and works in partnership with the Rwandan Ministry of Health, Light for the World and CBM (Christian Blind Mission). The Eye Unit started in 1993 but really was functioning well since 2002 when the first full time ophthalmologist arrived. They receive patients from all over the country and from neighboring countries (East DRC, Uganda and Burundi) and are focused on the poor.

They have an outpatient department with eye examination units, refraction unit, laser therapy, selling medicine and spectacles shop and a Low Vision Department. A ward with around 50 beds and an operating theatre. 

The personnel are highly motivated. They serve around 150- 200 patients a day – being more busy at the beginning of the week. Beside doing a lot of eye operations, mainly cataract, they also do screening programs and eye examinations in the remote villages with mobile clinics.  They teach local nurses and doctors and give especially training in basic eye care. Outreach surgeries are carried out all over Rwanda. Outreach surgery allows the Kabgayi Eye unit to reach the poorest Rwandans.  The priorities for the Kabgayi eye unit, are in line with the priorities of the Rwandan National Plan for the prevention of Blindness.

The team consists of 4 ophthalmologists, 1 orthoptist, 1 low vision specialist, 1 optometrist, 1 optician, ophthalmic clinical officers (OCO’s), nurses, helpers, administrators….

The purpose of our mission was to examine strabismus patients and to prepare them for surgery. The local orthoptist Eularie was trained in orthoptics in Aravind Eye Hospital in Madurai, India and was very motivated.

We examined patients together and in this way I could improve their skills especially in ocular motility and in examination of difficult neurological patients. 
Patients who needed strabismus surgery were discussed together with the orthoptist and the ophthalmologist and operated the next day by dr Sabine and dr Livin. 
Patients with diplopia who could not have surgery were fitted with residual and used Fresnel prisms I have brought with me.

I enjoyed my mission very much, especially I like the purpose of Light for the World that they want to invest in training and improving the skills of the local eye care professionals. 

https://www.internationalorthoptics.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Teaching_mission_Rwanda_May_2022.pdf

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]]> https://internationalorthoptics.org/2022/07/21/teaching-mission-in-rwanda/feed/ 0 Project “Orthoptic and Children’s vision” – Brazil https://internationalorthoptics.org/2020/08/14/project-orthoptic-and-childrens-vision-brazil/ https://internationalorthoptics.org/2020/08/14/project-orthoptic-and-childrens-vision-brazil/#respond Thu, 13 Aug 2020 22:00:00 +0000 https://www.internationalorthoptics.org/2020/08/14/project-orthoptic-and-childrens-vision-brazil/ The International Orthoptic Association (IOA) determined the first Monday in June as the “World Orthoptic Day”. The date is celebrated festively with many activities every year by the twenty four IOA country members. There are informative lectures in Orthoptic and eye healthy to the public and Orthoptic undergraduate students participate holding eye health fair. Disclosure of the career is done on written, digital and spoken media and in some countries patients participate in the celebrations at universities and hospitals, in addition to other different forms of celebration on the five continents.

The IOA is an association that has strong principles in maintaining and promoting Orthoptic in teaching, research and professional growth.

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]]> The Brazilian Orthoptic Association (CBOrt), a member of the IOA,  celebrated the  date by optimizing the project “Orthoptic and Children’s vision” on June 4th 2018, commemorative date of last year. The main objetive of the project is to detect low vision acuity at an early age. Orthoptists are trained since graduation and acquire practice in evaluating children of all ages and thus the idea of examining babies in daycare centers arose.

The elaboration of the project was also motivated after several orthoptists reported the increase in the number of amblyopic children referred using their first optical correction in old age for the beginning of treatment.

The pilot project for visual screening in children aged 0 to 5 years was carried out at a school in the municipal network of Early Childhood Education in the city of Caieiras in Sao Paulo.

The Brazilian Orthoptic Association  was represented by two orthoptists who evaluated 128 children from 4 months to 5 years of age.  Cortical Snellen visual acuity test and ocular motility exam were performed on 57 children aged 4 to 5 years and ocular motility exam on 71 children under 4 years old.

The class teachers received training by watching an informative video on visual acuity, as they were responsible for the initial training with the children in their classroom. Each taught their students the Snellen “E” test.

The children were evaluated in one of the school’s classrooms where the assistant teacher and the principal were present together with the examining orthoptists, that is, a familiar environment. Only two children at a time were called into the room to avoid distraction between them.

Of the 57 children aged 4 t o 5 years, only six did not participate in the test. Children under 4 years old were assessed each in their classroom during class activities, without interrupting the routine to also avoid distraction that would impair the exam.

The results obtained do not differ much from the literature on screening for VA in children, that is, of the 128 children evaluated, six were reffered for evaluation with the ophthalmologist.  They presented low visual acuity in OU, difference of VA of 2 lines between the eyes and a micro deviation.

The parents received the notice of the project a week earlier and there was no denial. The school diretor was responsible for informing them about the project’s objetives, stressing that it would be a screening and not a medical evaluation and finally referral to an ophthalmologist, if necessary.

We believe that the pilot project of “Orthoptic and Children’s vision” obtained positive results making it feasible to repeat on another scale, that is, the Brazilian Orthoptic Association has a proposal to replicate it in other states with the collaboration of the Orthoptists members and partners, along the lines of the IOA, which has community aid projects in action.

We will work for the next celebration of the “World Orthoptic Day” 2019 which will be on the 3rd of June next!

Until then!

 

Celina Tamaki Monteiro de Castro

IOA Representative

Brazil

https://www.internationalorthoptics.org/fileadmin/user_upload/WOD_Brazil.pdf

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]]> https://internationalorthoptics.org/2020/08/14/project-orthoptic-and-childrens-vision-brazil/feed/ 0 Vision screening in the USA https://internationalorthoptics.org/2020/05/23/vision-screening-in-the-usa/ https://internationalorthoptics.org/2020/05/23/vision-screening-in-the-usa/#respond Fri, 22 May 2020 22:00:00 +0000 https://www.internationalorthoptics.org/2020/05/23/vision-screening-in-the-usa/ Hi my name is Wanda Lynn Ottar Pfeifer, for the past 28 years I have been involved in vision screening.  It all started when I moved to Iowa in 1992 and traveled throughout the state of Iowa preforming automated photoscreening with the “Eyecor” camera (prototype to the first commercial automated photoscreener, MTI Photoscreener) (Figure 1)  Over the next few years I continued to research the efficacy of automated vision screening and in 1995 I authored my first paper on vision screening, since then I have authored and co –author 12 papers on vision screening in journal such as  J of AAPOS, Ophthalmology, Binoc Vision strabismus Quarterly, AOJ, Insight and Pediatrics (Figure 2).

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]]> I have conducted over 30 presentations on vision screening to area education agencies, school nurses, nurse practitioners, optometrist, pediatricians, ophthalmic nurses and technicians.  Some of the highlights of my vision screening career include being an invited guest at the vision screening in the preschool child symposium at the National Eye Institute in Maryland in 1998, working with Lions Club International in the late 1990’s to help provide funds for statewide vision screening programs and in 2005 I spoke at AAO Sunday night symposium on the use of automated vision screening devices.  

In 2000, I was a founding member of Iowa Kidsight, our statewide vision screening program.  The KidSight program currently uses the iScreen vision screener, as the sole analysis for the Iowa Kidsight program I have analyzed over 600,000 children ages 6 months to preschool age in the State of Iowa. I have also served as Iowa KidSight training coordinator developing all training materials and training thousands of volunteer Lions throughout the state as well as serving as intern program director on 2 separate occasions ( Figure 3).  This year, 2020, marks Iowa KidSight’s 20th anniversary – “20 years of Keeping an Eye on Kids Sight”.  The success of the program would not be what it is without the hard work and dedication of the KidSight team (Figure 4) and its volunteers. To date we have successfully screened 607,414 children in Iowa, referring 35,823 (5.9%) for amblyopia risk factors with a positive predictive value of 84.7%.

Although my work in vision screening has been in addition to my career as an orthoptist and I have loved every minute of it.  In 2012 I was awarded the Warren Coleman Iowa Foundation award for my dedication to screening the children of Iowa ( Figure 5).  I have been nominated for the Bonnie Strickland Champion for Children’s Vision in both 2018 and 2019. In 2019, I was presented with a banner for my work with Iowa Lion’s by the president of Lions Club International Foundation, Dr. Jung-You Choi. Also in January 2019 I was awarded University of Iowa Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Employee of the Months and later that year the  University of Iowa Staff Service Award for identify over 35,000 children in the state of Iowa with amblyopia risks factors.  Currently I serve as a committee member of the America Association of Certified Orthoptists vision screening committee. 

2020 brings with it many new challenges in life and in vision screening.  As an orthoptist my mission of providing excellence in eye care will continue now and hopefully into the next 20 years.

 

 

Figure 1:  Picture from a CNN blog on promoting early vision screening. (Post by: Miriam Falco – CNN Medical Managing Editor, February 13, 2013)

Figure 2: Wanda Pfeifer (center in pink) with volunteer lions at Iowa KidSight Leadership Meeting, 2004.   

Figure 3: 2019 Iowa KidSight Staff (Pictured left to right: Lori Short, program manager, Wendy Cadena, office coordinator, Sarah Smith, special projects,  Wanda Pfeifer, photoscreening analyst, Angie Garvey, program assistant, Deb Hatzky, follow-up coordinator, Dr. Bill Scott, medical director, Pat Mason, follow-up coordinator. (not present Sherri Panther, program assistant, Oscar Perez, Spanish follow-up coordinator)

Figure 4:  Wanda Pfeifer, 2012, receiving the Warren Coleman Award from the Iowa Lions Leadership for her dedication to vision screening.

 

 

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]]> https://internationalorthoptics.org/2020/05/23/vision-screening-in-the-usa/feed/ 0 Teaching mission Nigeria https://internationalorthoptics.org/2019/06/22/teaching-mission-nigeria/ https://internationalorthoptics.org/2019/06/22/teaching-mission-nigeria/#respond Fri, 21 Jun 2019 22:00:00 +0000 https://www.internationalorthoptics.org/2019/06/22/teaching-mission-nigeria/ Port Harcourt University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria, October 6 –13, 2018 

Last year during the WSPOS congress in Hyderabad, I met dr Adedayo Adio a Nigerian pediatric ophthalmologist from Port Harcourt and council member of the WSPOS. She told me that she wanted to start a 6 months orthoptic training course for optometrists in Nigeria and asked me to come for practical and theoretical teaching.

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]]> 2 years ago the IOA together with Trusetal Verbandstoffwerk GmbH supported the training of a Nigerian optometrist in Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai, India. Helen Jumbo, a young woman with 3 children, went for 6 months to Madurai and became the first Nigerian Orthoptists. She works with dr Adio at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital with 9 ophthalmologists, 39 residents, 5 optometrists and 25 nurses.
Isabel Reich d’Almeida, senior orthoptist and teacher in Lisbon and I went one week to teach the 3 orthoptic students, we gave theoretical and practical lessons during 5 full days. We lectured one morning the residents and another morning the optometrists. After the morning lectures, we examined the strabismic patient together with the students, in this way we were able to evaluate their practical skills and could correct them when necessary. Trusetal Verbandstoffwerk offered all the orthoptic material they used. This teaching mission was a great experience for us. They learned from us and we could examine interesting patients with them.

Thanks to Mr Hartmut Otto – Trusetal Verbandstoffwerk GmbH for the continuous support.

Daisy Godts, Principal Orthoptist

Antwerp University Hospital, Edegem, Belgium

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]]> https://internationalorthoptics.org/2019/06/22/teaching-mission-nigeria/feed/ 0 Karin Spatz: Mabuhay! Orthoptics in North Samar / Philippines https://internationalorthoptics.org/2018/06/11/karin-spatz-mabuhay-orthoptics-in-north-samar-philippines/ https://internationalorthoptics.org/2018/06/11/karin-spatz-mabuhay-orthoptics-in-north-samar-philippines/#respond Sun, 10 Jun 2018 22:00:00 +0000 https://www.internationalorthoptics.org/2018/06/11/karin-spatz-mabuhay-orthoptics-in-north-samar-philippines/ Karin Spatz, Orthoptist in Germany, visited together with an ophthalmologist Bugko, a costal village with about 7000 inhabitants. Next to giving instructions to local helpers, the saw a great number of patients. Read her interesting report!

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]]> https://internationalorthoptics.org/2018/06/11/karin-spatz-mabuhay-orthoptics-in-north-samar-philippines/feed/ 0 Claudia Ehlers: Low Vision in Rwanda https://internationalorthoptics.org/2018/06/07/claudia-ehlers-low-vision-in-rwanda/ https://internationalorthoptics.org/2018/06/07/claudia-ehlers-low-vision-in-rwanda/#respond Wed, 06 Jun 2018 22:00:00 +0000 https://www.internationalorthoptics.org/2018/06/07/claudia-ehlers-low-vision-in-rwanda/ Claudia Ehlers, teaching Orthoptist and Health Professions Educator (M. Sc) was invited to the Kabjye-Eye-Hospital to train eye-workers in the field of Low Vision. Don't miss and read her interesting report!

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]]> A Journey to: by Claudia Ehlers

Claudia Ehlers, teaching Orthoptist and Health Professions Educator (M. Sc) was invited to the Kabjye-Eye-Hospital to train eye-workers in the field of Low Vision. Don’t miss and read her interesting report!

https://www.internationalorthoptics.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Documents/Orthoptics-Worldwide/Rwanda__Ehlers_2015.pdf

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]]> https://internationalorthoptics.org/2018/06/07/claudia-ehlers-low-vision-in-rwanda/feed/ 0 Orthoptics in Uganda https://internationalorthoptics.org/2018/06/07/orthoptics-in-uganda/ https://internationalorthoptics.org/2018/06/07/orthoptics-in-uganda/#respond Wed, 06 Jun 2018 22:00:00 +0000 https://www.internationalorthoptics.org/2018/06/07/orthoptics-in-uganda/ A Journey to: Uganda by Lilliane Margaret Mugagga.

In her report Lilliane Margaret Mugagga desribes her work as an Orthoptist/Ophthalmic clinical officer/Refractionist at the Mengo Hospital Eye Clinic in Kampala, Uganda. Next to a very clear description of epidemiology in Uganda she also lists the various challenges orthoptists must face and possible plans to be realized. It is worthwhile reading her report!

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