Urgent action needed to bridge the urban-rural divide in health awareness

Chen Zhi is an oculist at Shanghai Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital of Fudan University specializing in child and adolescent myopia

In Shanghai, if I only gave a pair of regular eyeglasses to a child with myopia, I would consider myself irresponsible.

I usually prescribe a range of additional products to minors, including contact lenses used during sleep to prevent myopia worsening, along with eyedrops.

We use various ways to slow the worsening of myopia and reduce the possibility of children developing high-level myopia.

For the first half of this year, I'm working in Lincang city, Yunnan province, offering medical assistance. I also joined the charity eye screening event in Shidian county.

I found that nobody has even the most basic eyecare products they need. There is still a big urban-rural divide in both health awareness and medical levels.

Research by the World Health Organization last year showed that poor vision is the main reason that children worldwide drop their schooling.

Kids here are in urgent need of glasses, which may change their destiny. We see children with high-level hyperopia, (where nearby objects look blurred, but distant ones are more clearly visible), which may affect their learning and future lives. Giving them a pair of glasses in time will make a difference.

I've also encountered cases of cataracts among children, which can be congenital or caused by injury. Some children said that when they become almost blind in one eye, they use the other eye all the time to see. They choose not to tell their parents because they think they won't take them to a hospital, or they don't want to be a burden to them.

We also want to warn people about unhealthy eating habits. During the charity event, I saw a primary schoolboy with a parasitic infection in one eye. This caused complete atrophy of the retina, and he lost vision in the eye.

Parasites are still a problem in Yunnan, where some people eat raw meat. Such a diet poses the risk of infection and can lead to blindness.

We anticipate a sustainable model, including eye health screening for all children and adolescents, being established in less-developed regions. Local government departments, enterprises and various social sectors can all play their part in this.

Chen Zhi spoke to Zhou Wenting.