Between 3 months to 1 year after spectacles dispensing to
schoolchildren, we usually conduct a Monitoring and Evaluation survey of the beneficiaries to measure the impact of the program.
We interviewed
571 beneficiaries from 8 schools of NCR and Cavite and the chart below is the result.
It is alarming that majority (41%) of them
experienced discomfort while wearing/using their eyeglasses; 35% use it
regularly and 4% never used it. 17% either lost the spectacles or it was
broken. There's still a 3% though who experienced bullying by using spectacles.
So what do you think? Is School Eye Health
worth continuing? Is it sustainable? Or perhaps, you have a better
experience with this, please comment as to what would be your best
practice or how do we improve? What do you suggest? How can we make this
a priority to key stakeholders?
We always ask this: from the five senses, what is the most
difficult to lose? If your answer is sense of sight, then how come Prevention of Blindness Program has been left under the rag for so long and has never been a program priority of the Department of Health and the Local Government Units?
It's Sight Saving Month and hey, maybe it's time for you to have your eyes checked.