November 2019 – current – As a first appointment of a city’s visual impairment’ prevention program in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, last 20th November Saif Optima, a leading eye-care clinic in Tashkent, and its doctors conducted for the first time the screening of 241 kids (from 6 to 8 years old) at School 166. The screening was performed in 3 hours directly inside the school facilities, by using the mobile and portable binocular videorefractometer called KALEIDOS.

Ophthalmologists in Uzbekistan are aware of the importance of an early scholar age screening to detect visual impairments, refractive errors and amblyogenic factors. Since November, Dr. Gulchekhra Nazarova and her colleagues from Saif Optima have screened over 700 young children in 3 different outreach school projects (kids between 6 and 15 years old) in Tashkent and referred an average of 48 percent for additional eye examinations (refractions deviations). Of the identified deviations, more than 60% were children with a newly diagnosed pathology with a low level of deviation of refraction.

These screening are the result of a partnership between Saif Optima and the local institutions in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan with over 2.4 million people and around 100.000 scholar age students. The project aimed at increasing the quality and availability of education services for students with visual impairments and to make families and parents aware of the importance of an eye screening in early age. One of the main objectives of the partnership is the detection and prevention of eye diseases at an early stage. In addition to outreach school projects, Saif Optima has implemented its services by providing an entry-level eye screening for all the patients and not (kids, adults and elderly) who enter the clinic. That, just few days after the implementation, has allowed the screening of around 50 adults, 38% of whom have been referred for additional testing. This had been possible by placing one KALEIDOS unit at the entrance of the clinic, and by offering a 3″ automatic eye check, with possibility to receive a complete binocular objective refraction, in combination with an amblyogenic factors screening, with no age or phenotype limitation.

“For the first time in Uzbekistan, we used a 2WIN binocular portable refractometer in Kaleidos configuration. The device is convenient and easy to use. It became possible to determine refractive deviations in a large number of subjects in a short period of time outside a specialized clinic. It became possible to examine young children, what was previously difficult. Using the device allows us to avoid medical expansion of the pupils. Also, the practice of our clinic showed that 2WIN gives a more accurate picture when determining astigmatism, which coincides with the keratometric data of the topographer in comparison with autorefractometers” says Dr. Nazarova. During 2020 the project is to continue with regular school screenings and to stably implement KALEIDOS into procedures of both Saif Optima’s owned clinics, by also introducing the new anterior segment screening function and by becoming the first cloud-based screening clinic in Uzbekistan.

These targets and projects have been temporarily stopped, due to the Uzbekistan national lock-down. The responsible of the project, Mr Vyacheslav Mokretsov, is confident that the KALEIDOS technology will ease the restart of the project “The system is portable, automatic and it guarantees the complete functionality also at more than 1m safety distance (patient-operator distance Ed.). The technology will allow us to continue both the outreach programs and the internal screenings in safety conditions, for the patients and for our operators when the lock-down will be over”.

Why Kaleidos is a unique technology for objective refraction to speed up the measurement in screening projects

OneSight -one of Adaptica’s partners- and one of the most important independent nonprofit  organizations providing access to quality vision care and glasses in underserved communities worldwide, uses Kaleidos in many of its clinics, especially those in rural areas. Last year’s clinic in Cambodia is a perfect example of the usage of Kaleidos in screening projects.

“It’s an objective way of measuring the patient’s refractive error. The device is tablet-controlled and all the patient does is look into the tube, and the system will automatically make readings of both eyes simultaneously and take some other measurements which are necessary for the manufacturing of glasses.”

Kaleidos is a cutting-edge technology. It is a fully portable and automatic objective refractometer and vision analyzer that, in just 3 seconds, measures the refraction of both eyes and discovers other ocular impairments providing a screening of amblyogenic factors. It is light-independent, so it can be used in any environmental light condition.

Cambodia, located in the heart of Southeast Asia, bordering Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam, is a beautiful country full of temples and stunning landscapes. The population there faces incredible challenges daily, with more than 10% of the population living below the poverty line and over 40% of Cambodians earning $2 per day. Cambodia has an estimated population of 12 million people, 85% of whom live in rural areas. With a blindness prevalence rate of 1.2%, an estimated 180,000 people are blind. The main causes of blindness are cataract, uncorrected refractive error and glaucoma. 90% of blindness is avoidable, 79% is curable, and 11% is preventable. On top of that, Cambodia has one of the lowest numbers of eye care specialists per capita in the world.

From May 20 – 24, OneSight hosted a clinic in the rural Ampov Prey Commune of Cambodia, providing free eye exams and glasses to nine local villages in partnership with Khmer Sight Foundation and Essilor Vision Foundation. They were able to serve nearly 1,300 patients in just five days.

Due to the unique challenges presented by the geographic location of the clinic, OneSight decided to take on an agile kitting approach, which uses lighter, more portable equipment to reach remote areas faster and more efficiently. Typically, a clinic this size would require a dozen pallets of equipment to be transported to the site. With their innovative approach, they were able to pack an entire clinic into one pallet of supplies. It’s devices such as Kaleidos that make these nimble kits possible, giving volunteers the ability to screen more patients in a short period of time.

Here it’s what Jenny Harnett, OneSight Program Manager, said about the device:

“Adaptica’s Kaleidos has been a wonderful addition to our OneSight programs around the globe. It’s incredibly easy to transport and operate, patients love the fun and interactive experience, and our optometrists have great confidence in the readings. This innovative technology helps us deliver faster, higher quality care to more people, bringing us closer to our goal to help the world see.”

The team was composed of 50 members (including 27 OneSight team members, seven employees from  local partner, Khmer Sight Foundation, and 16 local volunteers who assisted with translation.) In just five days, they were able to see precisely 1,263 patients, providing nearly 1,100 pairs of glasses to those in need.

Kaleidos can be a crucial device for screening projects to shorten measurement time and increase the number of screenings. With thousands of patients already screened across dozens of projects, OneSight certainly knows how to make the most of Kaleidos to support its mission to eradicate the vision care gap around the world.

We are happy to inform that Adaptica joins the IAPB Standard List
The Standard List / Valued Supplier Scheme 2020 is a great platform to source and compare eye health products and technologies.
https://iapb.standardlist.org/the-products/kaleidos-plus/
https://iapb.standardlist.org/the-suppliers/adaptica-srl/