Mongolia Virtual Flying Eye Hospital Project Launches

This six-week project will deepen participating nurses' skills in cataract examinations and surgeries, as well as patient communication and infection control. Training will be held virtually through live lectures on our telemedicine platform Cybersight, and led by our incredible Volunteer Faculty. Lectures will be delivered in English and translated into Mongolian, as part of our effort to increase the language range of ophthalmic learning materials.

With generous support from OMEGA, Orbis is launching a virtual Flying Eye Hospital project in Mongolia. The project will train ophthalmic nurses in cataract treatment, the leading cause of blindness in the country, where rural villagers have difficulty accessing care.

This six-week project will deepen participating nurses' skills in cataract examinations and surgeries, as well as patient communication and infection control. Training will be held virtually through live lectures led by Volunteer Faculty, and will even be translated into Mongolian!

As a course for nurses, this virtual project adds to our commitment to training all eye care professionals, in addition to ophthalmologists. Evidence shows that well-trained nurses play a critical role in preventing complications during surgery, and improving patient outcomes. Nurses are often patients' first line of contact for understanding the procedure they are about to undergo as well as follow-up care.

OMEGA has been a proud supporter of Orbis since 2011, when it became a Global Corporate Partner. Through avid support of the Flying Eye Hospital, OMEGA has helped Orbis in its mission to mentor, train and inspire local teams so they can save sight in their communities. OMEGA also works in cooperation with its brand ambassadors – including Daniel Craig, Cindy Crawford and others – to increase awareness of Orbis and its mission. Craig and Crawford participated in Orbis programming in Mongolia and Peru, respectively, witnessing firsthand the life-changing work of Orbis. Additionally, OMEGA donates a portion of proceeds from specially dedicated Orbis watches to Orbis and the Flying Eye Hospital. Now as the Exclusive Title Sponsor of the newly launched virtual Flying Eye Hospital project, OMEGA’s continued support is playing a vital role in preventing avoidable blindness around the world.

OMEGA also donates a portion of proceeds from limited edition Orbis watches to help fight blindness around the world. Now as the main sponsor of the newly launched virtual Flying Eye Hospital project, OMEGA’s continued support is helping improve access to eye care, even in the midst of a global pandemic.

We first landed in Mongolia in 1989. Since then, we have returned multiple times, launching a four-year project with the National Center for Maternal and Child Health (NCMCH), the primary provider of pediatric eye care. The project aims to create a model for screening and treating complex pediatric cases like retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). Today, we continue supporting the NCMCH by training eye health professionals, and providing essential ophthalmic equipment.

Since starting our project in Mongolia, your support has helped us to screen more than 97,000 children in schools, communities and hospitals, including more than 1,000 babies screened for ROP.

In Mongolia in 2020, we delivered:

• 13,000+ screenings for school children
• 3000 screenings for infants for ROP
• 350 trainings for eye health professionals

Thanks to our supporters and partners like OMEGA, in Mongolia in 2020, we delivered:

• 13,000+ screenings for school children
• 3000 screenings for infants for Retinopathy of Prematurity
• 350 trainings for eye health professionals

We wouldn't have been able to pivot so quickly to virtual training without your help! Through years of investing your generous donations in Cybersight,

Due to the impact of COVID-19, Orbis reimagined its Flying Eye Hospital trainings as virtual ones in 2020 to ensure that eye care teams could still access critical training safely during the pandemic. Last year, Orbis’s virtual Flying Eye Hospital projects had over 850 enrollments by participants from nine countries. Orbis expects to reach 20 countries through its virtual Flying Eye Hospital projects this year.