Barbados, Maurice Byer Polyclinic: Kirsten Da Silva, MBBS, MPH bonding with mom and child while performing a vision screening

Most visual impairment in children is avoidable

Alana Grajewski, MD

A need for early screening in Suriname reveals itself

Barbados: Luke van Leeuwan, PGY2 & Christina Dowell, MBBS examine a young child during her vaccine visit using the Welch-Allyn Spot Auto refactor device

Too many children are living with poor vision, blindness due to uncorrected refractive error, and blindness from the effects of visual diseases

The West Indies: A Model of Early Vision Screening for the World

Formal eye before the age of 5 years does not exist in most of the world

Children in The West Indies are 4x more likely to have visual impairment than those in the US

Most of all formative learning occurs through vision

Advances in technology allow non-ophthalmic providers to easily provide accurate vision screenings

Welch-Allyn and their is a valued supporter of this initiative and our use of this device has been critical to the success of our project

Red reflex reimagined and Archlight is leading the way

Connect a smartphone device and upload an image to the cloud for referral

Suriname: It's a team effort! Drs. Denise Doelwijt & Michael Siban pioneering the PPB proof of concept

Drs. Christina Dowell & Matthew Javitt leading the way for collection of data. Dr. Adriana Grossman publishes the early findings and Dr. Aeesha Malik advises on policy

Vision limitation for children is largely avoidable

Suriname: Early trial findings in Suriname reveal the power of the model and yield strong referral data

PPB Timeline 1.0

A pilot study, fact finding mission are announced along with a collaboration with The University of The West Indies

PPB Timeline 2.0

Barbados: Test and proof of concept Barbados and sharing of findings

Barbados: It's always about the team! Building on the strengths of The West Indies' medical systems

Expanding coordinators and increasing research opportunities

Barbados, Maurice Byer Polyclinic

Landmark study on the burden of pediatric visual impairment and ocular diagnosis in Barbados

Barbados Research & Screening Project

A team of Ministry of Health officials, caregivers, key opinion leaders, and much appreciated researchers and volunteers working together

This project is only possible with vision

Thank you - Amarone Charitable Trust, James Annenberg La Vea (w. Jill Genson) Charitable Foundation, Samuel & Ethel Balkan International Pediatric Glaucoma Center, Butzow Family Foundation, Dr. Kenrick Leslie & Family, Theofanis & Wendy Kolokotrones, Verdun Foundation

PPB Initiative Manager, Coordinators, In Country Directors

PPB Regional Coordinators and Advisors

PPB advisors, investigators and support

PPB References

PPB For more information or to support this work