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Formation | 1985 |
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Type | NGO |
Headquarters | Sydney, Australia |
CEO | Yvette Waddell |
Website | www |
Formerly called | Institute for Eye Research [1] |
The Brien Holden Vision Institute (BHVI) is an Australian nonprofit non-governmental organization with an international focus on eye care research and vision care delivery. [2] Formerly the Institute for Eye Research, [1] in 2010 it was renamed in recognition of co-founder Brien Holden, a 1997 recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia for his contributions to eye care research. [3]
BHVI develops and partners with commercial and nonprofit organizations worldwide to accomplish its goals. [1] Its activities include the development of vision correction products (including eyeglasses, contact lenses and surgical devices) for the treatment of myopia (near-sightedness), presbyopia (also known as "aging sight"), hyperopia and astigmatism. It also conducts research in improvements in contact lens technology, treatments for conditions such as dry eye and technologies to detect eye disease and other eye related conditions. [1]
Brien Holden Vision Institute (BHVI) is headquartered in Sydney and has been represented in New South Wales and the Northern Territories of Australia, Cambodia, China, Colombia, India, Malawi, Mongolia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Uganda and Vietnam. [1] Worldwide, BHVI has developed over 400 eye care sites and, since 1998, provided optometric services to more than 2.5 million people. It has reached 57 schools and trained nearly 50,000 eye care personnel. [1] It was one of two principal investigators in the 2012 study, "The global cost of correcting vision impairment from uncorrected refractive error", with findings published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization . [4]
In Africa, BHVI sponsored the African Vision Research Institute at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa, which conducts research on disease control, human resource development, infrastructure development, provides training in research methods, and promotes publication of research findings for postgraduate students. [5] Additional collaborative work includes vision care in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, projected to reach four million children. [6] In 2014, BHVI partnered with Standard Chartered and SightSavers to provide paediatric eye surgeries at no cost to children aged 15 and younger in Uganda, as part of the Seeing is Believing Child Eye Health project. [7] Also in 2014, BHVI stressed the need for access to affordable spectacles in Tanzania in order to help eliminate vision impairments. The organization partnered with the Tanzanian Optometric Association to distribute spectacles and offer free "professional development courses" for optometrists. [8] [9]
Researchers at the Zhongsan Ophthalmic Centre at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, China are working in 2013 with BHVI on juvenile myopia on a project focused on myopia clinical translational research. [10] Myopia, which affects up to 600 million Chinese people, is a target of research at the Australia China Centre for Optometry Research and Development, which BHVI established in 2012. [11]
In 2011, BHVI co-founded the India Vision Institute, headquartered in Hyderabad, India. [12]
In 2014, a six-day workshop called Low Vision Assessment and Peadtric Refraction provided training and inventory to refractionists from Pakistani district headquarters hospitals, the College of Ophthalmology (COAVS) and Layton Rahmatulla Benevolent Trust hospitals . It was led by the South Asia regional manager of BHVI and the program manager of BHVI Pakistan. This marked the first time in Pakistan that ten district headquarters hospitals were equipped to operate low-vision centers. [13]
BHVI was an essential participant in Vision CRC Ltd, which was established in 2003 under the Australian Government's Cooperative Research Centres Program. [14]
The Australian government's National Health and Medical Research Council lists BHVI as an Approved Administering Institution. [15] The Australian International Development's NGO Cooperation Program helped to fund BHVI in a partnership with Lurio University in Mozambique, to develop and implement a comprehensive program for optometry services in Mozambique and for Portuguese-speaking African countries. [16] BHVI has full membership in the anti-poverty organization Australian Council for International Development [17] and is a full participant in "Vision 2020 Australia", which is part of a global initiative of the World Health Organization and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness. [18] [19]
BHVI has sponsored the establishment of commercial entities known as Brien Holden Vision subsidiary companies in Australia, China, India and the United States to directly bring to market advanced products of benefit to consumers and to generate revenues to fund research, education, development and humanitarian activities. [1]
BHVI is developing instruments for diagnosis of eye disorders and in 2012 took a controlling share in the United States company, Quantum Catch, renamed Brien Holden Vision Diagnostics, a company focused on the design, manufacture and sale of affordable, high-quality diagnostic medical devices. [20]
Glasses, also known as eyeglasses or spectacles, are vision eyewear, with lenses mounted in a frame that holds them in front of a person's eyes, typically utilizing a bridge over the nose and hinged arms that rest over the ears.
Myopia, also known as near-sightedness and short-sightedness, is an eye disorder where light focuses in front of, instead of on, the retina. As a result, distant objects appear blurry while close objects appear normal. Other symptoms may include headaches and eye strain. Severe near-sightedness is associated with an increased risk of retinal detachment, cataracts, and glaucoma.
A dioptre or diopter is a unit of measurement with dimension of reciprocal length, equivalent to one reciprocal metre, 1 dioptre = 1 m−1. It is normally used to express the optical power of a lens or curved mirror, which is a physical quantity equal to the reciprocal of the focal length, expressed in metres. For example, a 3-dioptre lens brings parallel rays of light to focus at 1⁄3 metre. A flat window has an optical power of zero dioptres, as it does not cause light to converge or diverge. Dioptres are also sometimes used for other reciprocals of distance, particularly radii of curvature and the vergence of optical beams.
Optometry is a specialized health care profession that involves examining the eyes and related structures for defects or abnormalities. Optometrists are health care professionals who typically provide comprehensive primary eye care.
The Bates method is an ineffective and potentially dangerous alternative therapy aimed at improving eyesight. Eye-care physician William Horatio Bates (1860–1931) held the erroneous belief that the extraocular muscles effected changes in focus and that "mental strain" caused abnormal action of these muscles; hence he believed that relieving such "strain" would cure defective vision. In 1952, optometry professor Elwin Marg wrote of Bates, "Most of his claims and almost all of his theories have been considered false by practically all visual scientists."
Refractive error, also known as refraction error, is a problem with focusing light accurately on the retina due to the shape of the eye and or cornea. The most common types of refractive error are near-sightedness, far-sightedness, astigmatism, and presbyopia. Near-sightedness results in far away objects being blurry, far-sightedness and presbyopia result in close objects being blurry, and astigmatism causes objects to appear stretched out or blurry. Other symptoms may include double vision, headaches, and eye strain.
The Lions Eye Institute (LEI) is an Australian medical research institute affiliated with the University of Western Australia. It was established in 1983 with support of the Lions Clubs of Western Australia and headquartered in the Perth suburb of Nedlands, Western Australia. The LEI is a not-for-profit centre of excellence that combines an ophthalmic clinic with scientific discovery developing techniques for the prevention of blindness and the reduction of pain from blinding eye conditions.
Joshua D. Silver is a British physicist whose discoveries have included a new way to change the curvature of lenses, with a significant application for the low-cost manufacture of corrective lenses and adjustable spectacles, especially in low-income countries.
Astigmatism is a type of refractive error due to rotational asymmetry in the eye's refractive power. This results in distorted or blurred vision at any distance. Other symptoms can include eyestrain, headaches, and trouble driving at night. Astigmatism often occurs at birth and can change or develop later in life. If it occurs in early life and is left untreated, it may result in amblyopia.
Emmetropia is the state of vision in which a faraway object at infinity is in sharp focus with the ciliary muscle in a relaxed state. That condition of the normal eye is achieved when the refractive power of the cornea and eye lens and the axial length of the eye balance out, which focuses rays exactly on the retina, resulting in perfectly sharp distance vision. A human eye in a state of emmetropia requires no corrective lenses for distance; the vision scores well on a visual acuity test.
Vision Aid Overseas (VAO) is a registered charity in the United Kingdom, which provides optical aid and services to developing countries in Africa.
Jennifer Semakula Musisi is a Ugandan lawyer and public administrator. She is the first City Leader in Residence at Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative at the Ash Center of the Harvard Kennedy School, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. She was appointed to this position in January 2019.
Professor Charles Mark Lwanga Olweny, MBChB, MMed, MD, FRACP, is a Ugandan physician, oncologist, academic and medical researcher. Currently he is a professor of medicine and Immediate past vice-chancellor at Uganda Martyrs University, based at Nkozi, Mpigi District, in Central Uganda.
The Australian College of Optometry (ACO) is a not-for-profit organisation in Australia committed to improving the eye health and well-being of Australian communities. Established in 1940, the ACO delivers public health optometry, vision research and professional education.
Some animals suffer from shortsightedness and have poor eyesight. In domestic animals, myopia, with or without astigmatism, occurs frequently.
Gerard Sutton is an Australian ophthalmic surgeon and ophthalmologist in Australia and New Zealand. His specialty is laser vision correction, cataract and lens surgery, and corneal transplantation.
Uganda Heart Institute (UHI), is a specialized, public, tertiary care medical facility owned by the Uganda Ministry of Health. It is a component of Mulago National Referral Hospital, the largest hospital in Uganda, which serves as the teaching hospital of Makerere University College of Health Sciences.
Science and technology in Uganda examines government efforts to develop a national innovation system and the impact of these policies.
Clare Gilbert is a professor and a researcher who focuses on blindness in children based at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).
The Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC) is a national eye specialty centre in Singapore.