Ophthalmologist wins prestigious award for program supported by CBM that prevents baby blindness.

In her capacity as Senior Physician for Pediatric Ophthalmology from the organization Unidad Nacional de Oftalmología, Dr. Ana Lucía Asturias is receiving the Else Kröner Fresenius Award for Development Cooperation 2024 in distinguished acknowledgment of her project “Retinopathy of Prematurity in Guatemala”. The award-winner developed a program to keep premature infants from going blind. The award from the foundation Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung (EKFS) is endowed with 100,000 euros and numbers among the most renowned distinctions in the field of development cooperation in medicine. The formal award presentation ceremony will be held on October 15th at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Berlin.

To prevent so-called baby blindness, Dr. Ana Lucía Asturias and the Unidad Nacional de Oftalmología organization have developed and established a program in Guatemala. The program has been implemented with the support of the Christian Blind Mission (CBM) since 2019. The Unidad Nacional de Oftalmología is a nationally active, partly state-run entity that provides highest-quality eye care at affordable prices along with training for professional staff. Key mainstays within the program are both the screening and treatment of preterm infants, as well as the active use of telemedicine.

“With this year’s award we are acknowledging an outstanding project in the area of child health. Through straightforward and very effective measures such as extensive screenings, a project that can distinctly improve children’s health,” is how Dr. Jochen Bitzer, responsible for humanitarian funding at EKFS, explains the award allocation.

The project was nominated by CBM, a supporter of the program for years. “We are very pleased about this award,” adds Dr. Rainer Brockhaus, co-CEO of CBM. “With the work they do, Dr. Ana Lucía Asturias and her team contribute substantially toward reducing preventable visual impairments and blindness in children in Guatemala.”

In the course of the program around Dr. Ana Lucía Asturias, all premature infants undergo a screening at the Unidad’s Outpatient Department, which is affiliated with and adjoins Roosevelt Hospital in Guatemala City. Dr. Asturias clarifies the screening procedure: “We examine all babies born before the 36th week of pregnancy, as well as newborn infants who weigh less than 2,000 grams. This also includes preterm babies who have already been taken home and still have to be monitored following release. They continue to be looked after and cared for by us.”
To perform the screening on babies merely requires a strong light source and a lens. “The fascinating thing about the eye is that I’m able to see everything. I can monitor the blood vessels and their growth,” the ophthalmologist explains. The means for treating ROP include via laser or by injecting medication, for example.

To make this service accessible, even in remote regions, the Unidad Nacional de Oftalmología and Dr. Asturias have built up a network. Of the 43 government hospitals with neonatal departments, 15 are affiliated with the program. In all of Guatemala there are barely a dozen eye doctors who specialize in children. That’s why telemedicine for training ophthalmologists is a crucial pillar within the project.
Yet another factor for the program’s success is the assumption of financial costs for examinations and follow-up treatments. Otherwise many families couldn’t afford them. In 2023, around 1,750 babies were examined within the scope of the project: ROP was diagnosed in 281. In the majority of them the disease disappeared all by itself. 55 preterm infants received the necessary treatment – either using injections or a laser.

The award money from EKFS is going to be used to advance and consolidate activities. One goal is to integrate more hospitals and expand the program nationwide. Cooperation with the Ministry of Health and educational training therefore constitute further key mainstays in the program. Healthcare staff are being schooled via courses given online throughout the country; all ophthalmologists in the process of obtaining a residency within the scope of specialization at the Unidad Nacional de Oftalmología are trained to perform screenings.