Latest News U.K. Eyecare Charity Helps More Than 1 Million People in Rwanda By Staff Friday, February 24, 2017 12:18 AM LONDON—Vision for a Nation (VFAN) reported that it has helped more than 1 million people to access eyecare services across Rwanda. The United Kingdom-based charity has supported Rwanda’s Ministry of Health to “successfully build an affordable nationwide eyecare service that is locally available to all the nation’s 10.5 million people and is fully integrated into the public health system,” according to a VFAN announcement.The service is provided at all of Rwanda’s 502 local health centers by certified nurses trained by VFAN to provide eyecare since 2013. A nationwide outreach program launched in 2015 is extending the service to 100 percent of Rwanda’s 15,000 villages to maximize awareness and address the huge backlog of need, according to the announcement.To date, more than 1.2 million eye screenings, 560,000 medication prescriptions, 144,000 referrals for specialist treatment and 109,000 pairs of glasses have been provided to date, VFAN stated.“Rwanda is the first emerging country in the world to provide all of its people with local access to affordable eyecare,” VFAN chief executive officer Tom Rosewall said in the announcement. “In only four years, the service that we have helped build throughout the nation has served more than 1 million people—10 percent of the population. With complete integration within Rwanda’s public health system, it will continue to help people long into the future. We are now working to take our groundbreaking approach to other countries around the world.” VFAN supports national health ministries in select emerging nations to build nationwide access to local and affordable eyecare. Its first national program is in Rwanda, where it has been supporting the Ministry of Health since 2012.