Africa-Press – Mozambique. The UK-based International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) has named Isaura Ilorena d’Alva Brito dos Santos ‘Eye Health Hero 2021’.
In total, 81 personalities were nominated among doctors and non-clinicians who work for the prevention of blindness in several countries around the world. Isaura Brito dos Santos is a professor and director of the Optometry course at the Faculty of Health Sciences of Lurio University.
“It is a great honour for me to be recognised for the work I have been developing and coordinating in Mozambique. First of all, I thank God for giving me health, strength and direction. I also thank the commitment of all optometrists working in the Optometry Department at Universidade Lúrio and colleagues in the Mozambican Association of Optometrists who have tirelessly supported the cause we all embrace,” Isaura Brito dos Santos said.
“I thank all the partners who work with us, and in particular those who suggested my name for this great distinction. Special thanks go to the Spanish NGO, OCULARIS, which has been helping to develop the common dream of improving the quality of visual and eye health for children in Mozambique. Nothing would have been possible acting alone. I have learned from each person and from each new situation that I face on a daily basis. I would like to be able to serve as an inspiration for other professionals, so that they can also raise the name of Mozambique beyond its borders.”
The nomination note states that Isaura Brito dos Santos is a Mozambican who completed her degree in Optometry in 2014 with the distinction of best student and was part of the third cohort of optometrists trained in Mozambique. At the end of the mission of international optometry teachers, there was a need to hire locally trained optometrists to continue the training of optometry students. In light of this, she became a junior professor of optometry at Lúrio-Nampula University, a role she accepted and performed with full awareness of the challenges facing the ophthalmologist profession at this early stage in the country.
In 2015, she transferred to the LV Prasad Ophthalmic Institute in Hyderabad (India), where she became the first and only Mozambican to graduate from the Paediatric Ophthalmology Department’s long-term clinical fellowship program in Paediatric Ophthalmology and Orthopaedics, Neuro-Ophthalmology and Strabismus.
She then returned to Mozambique in 2017, and she started working with the aim of developing strategies to improve optometry as a profession, better clinical approaches in the workplace, practical and theoretical teaching/learning in optometry and eye examinations. A few months later, she became the first president of the Mozambican Optometry Association and, along with five other executive members, moved towards legalising the practice of optometry.
In March 2018, Isaura Brito dos Santos was elevated to the position of Deputy Director of the University’s Optometry course, and in September 2018 she became interim director of the University’s optometry department
“Despite her limited experience, she has continually leveraged this position to enhance the education of optometry students and teachers with the wealth of experience gained during her time in India, and has also shared her triumphs over the challenges of encouraging others, as she acknowledges that it was not an easy job,” the IAPB remarks.
“Although Isaura is a young leader, she has always shown great passion for the development of optometry in the country, as she is a clinical optometrist, professor and researcher who works in close collaboration with several NGOs focused on eye health in Mozambique (OCULARIS, Sight Savers and Light for the World), the Ministry of National Health, and other international partners, in order to develop and improve eye care services and the dissemination of research results through participation in national conferences and international and scientific publications. Isaura not only has an impact on the patients she sees and on her students, but on all optometrists in the country, whether at the association or at the university, and she is an inspiration to many,” their comments conclude.
President Nyusi has congratulated Isaura Brito dos Santos on the nomination.
