Mission
The programme aims to advocate proactive and preventive children eye care, with special attention to the under-privileged communities, via the synergistic collaboration of different parties (academics and professionals, government, community, and business enterprises) using a sustainable and cost-effective clinic-based model. This programme will serve as a role model for children eye care in regions beyond Hong Kong.

Project Brief 

Short-sightedness, also known as myopia, is becoming a serious problem amongst children in Hong Kong. As these children grow up, they will have a progressive and irreversible increase in the degree of short-sightedness. Severe short-sightedness not only impairs their vision and their ability to learn, but also increases the risk of other eye diseases in future, such as glaucoma and retinal detachment.

Organised in collaboration with schools, the CUHK Jockey Club Children Eye Care Programme will provide eye examinations for 30,000 children aged 6-8 years old from 2018-2020, so as to detect any eye diseases before their visual system completes its development and provide appropriate treatment, thus reducing the chances of permanent visual impairment.

Our programme will provide eye examinations for 30,000 children aged 6-8 years old.

Comprehensive eye examinations are carried out for the participating children. They will go through series of examinations including ophthalmologist consultation, visual acuity, cycloplegic refraction, cover/uncover test and prism bar cover/uncover test to detect strabismus, ocular biometry for eyeball size and length, intraocular pressure measurement, stereopsis, slit lamp, fundus examination, anterior segment OCT for corneal thickness, posterior segment OCT for macular and optic nerve scans.

Most of the ocular diseases can be detected through our examinations, including refractive errors (myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism), strabismus, amblyopia, allergic eye diseases, and colour deficiency; as well as paediatric corneal diseases and hereditary retina diseases, which are usually hard to discover.

Aside from detecting common eye diseases through eye examinations, environmental, lifestyle, and nutritional data of the children are also collected for a better understanding of children’s condition. Health counselling is provided to parents for their children’s better eye care.

Besides, the Programme Team will organise children eye care workshops and public lectures every week in primary schools and community halls in different districts. The rationale of organising workshops to teachers and social workers is based on the “train the trainers” concept. 

Many underprivileged families, especially the ethnic minorities and new immigrants, are often isolated from the rest of the community. School teachers and social workers are their effective contact points in the community for effective outreach and education for these families.

Totally 40 public lectures to general public and 12 children eye care workshops to school teachers and social workers will be organised per year, aiming to reach an attendance of about 10,000 families, 1,200 school teachers, and 600 social workers.

Totally 40 public lectures to general public and 12 children eye care workshops to school teachers and social workers will be organised per year.

Major Benefits

The programme will provide eye examinations for 30,000 children aged 6-8 years old from 2018-2020.

Totally 40 public lectures to general public and 12 children eye care workshops to school teachers and social workers will be organised per year.

Doctors, medical students, nursing students, secondary school students and volunteers, including retired people, are recruited to serve in the programme at weekends.
 

We have trained secondary school students to perform eye care investigations.

Blood or buccal swabs from the families will be collected to establish a large bio-bank.