Abstract
Background: There are many fragmented public health policies that give directives towards various aspects of healthcare needs and implementation. However, none of these policies make specific reference to eye health promotion (EHP) as an enabler for individuals to take control of the determinants of their eye health (EH) needs. Aim: The current study sought to identify EHP messages in the various available policy documents at both national and provincial health department levels with a view to assessing awareness on the available gaps for the development of an integrated EHP policy in South Africa. Setting: The study used documents provided by the National Department of Health and those that were available online from various other provincial Departments of Health in the country. Methods: Content analysis of EH policies requested from the Directorate of Chronic Diseases, Disabilities and Geriatrics was conducted. Various other health policies that were enacted post-1994 and endorsed by the National and Provincial Departments of Health were also considered for analysis. Results: Twenty-four documents were considered for content analysis. The national guidelines on eye healthcare made reference to EH activities such as immunisation of children, vision screening of the elderly, vitamin A supplementation and maternal services to detect sexually transmitted diseases, amongst others. Of the 20 national and provincial health documents analysed, only four made reference to EH. None of these documents made any specific reference to EHP. Conclusion: Although four national guidelines contain content related to EHP, the fragmentation and lack of integration with other health policy documents may lead to eye healthcare messages not being prioritised for dissemination even where they are highly required. Also, public eye healthcare services in general will continue to lag behind as is the case in most provinces in South Africa.
Highlights
The Universal Eye Health: A Global Action Plan (2014–2019), articulated the essence of eliminating unwarranted cases of blindness through the participation of member states by developing and implementing favourable policies.[1]
The Directorate of Chronic Diseases, Disabilities and Geriatrics in which eye health promotion (EHP) activities were planned provided the following guidelines which were their only documents on eye health (EH) in general: National guideline on prevention of blindness in South Africa
The national guideline on prevention of blindness in South Africa is a document that focuses on the prevention of avoidable blindness as a component of the VISION 2020 global initiative
Summary
The Universal Eye Health: A Global Action Plan (2014–2019), articulated the essence of eliminating unwarranted cases of blindness through the participation of member states by developing and implementing favourable policies.[1]. The importance of developing health policies that expedite and advocate for considerations for healthcare needs of people in the developing countries is of vital importance These policies have to be implemented as part of the health systems that are aimed at improving the lives of individual community members in those countries. Demographic changes, massive urbanisation, rural environments and the advent of unhealthy lifestyles have resulted in rapidly changing disease patterns on a global level since the industrial revolution of the 18th century,[6] and this appears to be the case even in South Africa In view of these developments and conventional patterns of disease processes as well as challenges that are inherent in the developmental landscape of South Africa, all health disciplines, including http://www.avehjournal.org. None of these policies make specific reference to eye health promotion (EHP) as an enabler for individuals to take control of the determinants of their eye health (EH) needs
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