Survey Results: COVID-19 Readiness among Health and Eyecare Providers in Africa

Survey Results from 108 VisionSpring Partners

Results presented for a virtual conference, Eye Health in a Changing World, hosted by India Vision Institute. — Results presented for a virtual conference, *Eye Health in a Changing World,* hosted by India Vision Institute.

VisionSpring improves livelihoods by creating access to affordable eyeglasses in collaboration with more than 350 partners globally. In sub-Saharan Africa, our partner network consists of community health workers, vision centers, primary care clinics, and government, mission, and non-profit hospitals, many of whom are on the front line of COVID-19 prevention and care. Survey responses collected in May 2020 from 108 partners in VisionSpring’s five key market countries in Africa reveals that the majority of providers have a plan for COVID-19 and handwashing stations, but they lack sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE) and request guidance on infection, prevention and control (IPC), particularly to safely restart community-based care.

Highlights include:

91% of partners have a COVID-19 plan. 47% rated their institution as “prepared” for COVID-19, and 43% rated their institution as “somewhat prepared”.
75% of partners reported having a handwashing station at their main entrance. This likely reflects prior experience with infectious disease outbreaks and the availability of handwashing stations on local markets.
Partners reported being completely out of stock or short of stock of the following items: N-95 masks (62%), goggles (53%), full face shields (45%), foot covers (38%), surgical gowns (38%) and isolation gowns (35%).
69% of partners requested guidance on IPC integration during outreach activities, such as community-level vision screenings.

As we rapidly adapt to COVID-19, VisionSpring is committed to serving its partners and customer communities, and helping governments and mission-aligned organizations keep their front line people safe. VisionSpring will continue to share insights and assessment results in an effort to inform our collective COVID-19 response.