Planning diabetic retinopathy services – lessons from Latin America

Abstract

The World Health Organization encourages the promotion and development of programmes for the prevention, detection, and management of diabetic retinopathy (DR). Such programmes must identify effective strategies and technology so that they can be adapted to the situation in each part of the world. Programmes must also be monitored and continuously improved.The guidelines discussed in this article were developed by experts brought together during workshops hosted by the VISION 2020 Latin America technical subcommittee on DR and technical support was provided by the Pan-American Asociation of Ophthalmology (PAAO). Although these guidelines have been developed for Latin America, we hope that the principles they contain will provide a good starting point for the planning of DR services in other low- and middle-income countries.

Keywords

• Diabetic Retinopathy
• Delivery of Health Care
• Health Planning
• Americas