Equity Lab’s Equitable Education Fund (EEF) is made possible by partnerships with the Pattani Provincial Administrative Organization, Pattani Municipality, Pattani Hospital, Pattani Primary Educational Service Area Office, Region 12, Pattani Hospital, Public Health Security Office (NHSO), Faculty of Optometry, Ramkhamhaeng University, Thai Optometric Association, Public Health Officers, Public Health Volunteers, Sub-district Health Promoting Hospitals (SHPH) in the area, and Pattani Gold Card Protection Center. These partnerships enable Equity Lab to provide free vision screenings and glasses to students enrolled in local administrative organizations and neighboring schools in Pattani Province.
This initiative falls under the “I SEE THE FUTURE” framework of designing advances for vision screening. The act of seeing has the power to influence future events by fostering local mechanisms that will enable all children to receive vision screening services, establish a system of referral for children who require medical attention, and obtain high-quality glasses at no cost as part of the National Health Security Office’s national health insurance rights (NHSO).
Taking part in the procedure from May 27–31, 2024, are optometrists from Ramkhamhaeng University, hospital employees and nurses, and Dr. Zul Optics in Pattani. 1,725 pupils in 63 schools, including the Juvenile Observation and Protection Center in Pattani Province and the Juvenile Training Center, Region 9, Yala Province, are the target group. They are enrolled in Kindergarten through Mathayom 3 classes.
Regarding the “I SEE THE FUTURE” vision screening innovation design project, Mr. Warut Lertsarawut, an academic at the Equity Lab at Equitable Education Research Institute (EEFI), said that the primary target group to be assisted is poor and impoverished students, who, in addition to their family’s economic status, have health problems, especially vision problems, which directly affect their learning and increase their risk of dropping out of the educational system.
In an effort to lessen these barriers, the I SEE THE FUTURE project has created a functional prototype that facilitates collaboration across regional public health, education, and local government institutions, as well as local administrative groups. The local health insurance fund has created a budget assistance plan to arrange vision screenings for school-age populations, thereby increasing the likelihood that children would have ongoing access to vision health services in a sustainable manner. Three provinces were involved in the pilot project: Surin, Pattani, and Samut Songkhram. The Pattani Province implementation aimed to educate parents about the advantages of the Gold Card for kids and the significance of vision issues in their kids.
Mr. Kanitsak Chantraphiphat, Director of Primary Care Access and Disease Prevention Support, National Health Security Office (NHSO), said that normally, the children’s vision screening system will be screened at the Prathom 1 level, starting with the school health teacher who will perform the initial vision screening of children. If any children are found to have abnormal vision, they will collect the children’s names and send them to the health station staff or Sub-district Health Promoting Hospitals (SHPH) for further confirmation. If it is still found that there is a need for a confirmation screening by an ophthalmologist, the health station will collect the children to see an ophthalmologist for confirmation to measure their vision and examine other eye diseases at the hospital. If there is a real problem, they will be given glasses. The hospital that provided the glasses can claim the expenses from the NHSO.
It was discovered that despite the partnership with the Equitable Education Fund (EEF), an organization that assists kids from low-income or underprivileged backgrounds, these kids still lack access to screening and treatment services for abnormal eyesight issues. To provide proactive services that will enable all children to have access to vision screening services and expedite the process of children receiving glasses more quickly, we have therefore collaboratively looked for children who have vision problems by driving through local administrative organizations and various partner organizations in the area. This project can be replicated nationally and will serve as a model for expanded vision screening services.
Through our partnership with the Equitable Education Fund, we seek to develop a proactive service model that can be scaled up for usage across the country. It can be a different reactive model from the standard model. To set up a system where all kids may get vision screenings and spectacles to fix their vision issues, we may have a proactive approach in addition to many other models.
Owner of Dr. Zul Optics in Pattani Province and optometrist for the Southern Thai Optometry Association Network, Mr. Zulkeefli Waseng, stated that, based on his screening experience, between 10 and 15 percent of the students screened have vision issues. Particularly at schools located in isolated areas, there are significant visual impairments. If strabismus and lazy eye are present, the vast majority of affected children are in kindergarten and early primary school. Children between the ages of six and nine are known to be nearsighted. When nine-year-old children are first seen, they have never before visited an optical store or gotten vision health care.
“We do mobile units in the city. We indeed encounter many problems, but the problems are minor. Most children with low vision go to optical shops and enter basic healthcare processes anyway. But when we go to other districts, a bit further away, we encounter vision problems that become more and more serious because they have never seen a doctor or entered the health care system before.”
Furthermore, Mr. Zulkeefli stressed the importance of parents and teachers observing their children’s behavior as a first step in preventing eye disorders in children, particularly in young children who are unable to communicate and do not yet understand the symptoms or features of an anomaly. Children who have vision problems will behave differently from typical children. They may squint, look closer than usual, tilt their necks to look, walk and bump into objects, or be sensitive to light. In the classroom, teachers should watch out for reasons why children prefer to sit in front of the class, ask friends to sit next to them, copy friends next to them, or dislike doing their homework, as these behaviors may indicate a visual impairment.
Lecturer Ms. Monsicha Treetipent of Ramkhamhaeng University’s Faculty of Optometry expressed her gratitude and honor to the “I SEE THE FUTURE” Innovation Design Project for Vision Screening of the Equitable Education Fund for granting her participation in this activity. Based on screening conducted over the previous five days, it was discovered that children in Pattani Province with vision problems could be classified into two groups: those with vision problems, which are typically present in children with normal vision, and those with vision that is rather high. In contrast to previous places she has visited, the other category consists of eye disorders. Vision difficulties are not that serious since visual acuity is extremely different, which may be related to the behavior of youngsters in Pattani Province who utilize their vision less at close range. Genetically induced Visual Acuity, however, is relatively high. The majority of eye conditions identified are lazy eyes and squinting crossed eyes. A hereditary condition may be the origin of some individuals’ irregular pupils, while the use of electronic gadgets, which has a significant negative impact on learning, maybe the cause of others. Furthermore, young children who are not yet able to express what they cannot see could lead to misunderstandings among others around them.
“Children lack communication skills. This group of kids will be misinterpreted by the public or those in their immediate vicinity as being lethargic, which will negatively impact their academic performance and social interactions with peers.”
A boy named B (pseudonym) had a myopia of 5.75, although he had never seen clearly in his life. This was the case of the child who had gone for screening and had problems in society, as he discovered. Because of this, he was unable to understand what clarity was and that seeing every day was normal when, in fact, he was unable to see anything at all, making it impossible for him to learn and react.
In addition, Professor Manasicha also added that the importance of screening and correcting it as soon as possible, whether it is correcting with lenses or wearing glasses, will help slow down the development of vision or other treatments may help slow down the severity. In particular, lazy eyes should be corrected in children before the age of 10, which will give children a better chance of restoring their vision and will help children have the opportunity to pursue the career they want in the future.
