To enhance the grassroots capability of eye disease prevention and control in the Yangtze River Delta region, a training program has begun to cultivate young eye doctors and establish county-based talent training centers in the region, allowing patients to undergo high-quality medical service near their home instead having to travel far to big cities like Shanghai.

In addition to eye doctors, medical professionals offering service and guidance on orthokeratology to correct myopia are available for the first time. Experts will offer education to grassroots professionals on the theory behind orthokeratology, commonly known as OrthoK, and how to use it to prevent, correct, and control myopia in children and minors.

Ti Gong

Myopia has become a major health issue in China, where the incidence among children and minors is 52.7 percent, and the prevalence of myopia in university students in China is 95 percent.

"In addition to promoting medical skills, our training also includes teaching medical professionals how to promote health education to increase public awareness on eye health and improve awareness of myopia and other eye diseases," said Dr Lu Lina, vice president of the Shanghai Eye Disease Prevention and Control Center and one of the leaders of the program.

"Health education can play an important role in disease prevention and control and has been included in the evaluation system on medics in some regions such as Shanghai. Our training will also include the content to teach medics how to use easy-to-understand languages to explain eye diseases and teach the public basic eye-care knowledge."