Introduction and Objectives

The CEHP (Community Eye Health Program) was developed in 2017 by the Philippine Department of Health (DOH) together with the National Committee for Sight Preservation (NCSP), the Philippine Academy of Ophthalmology, and The Fred Hollows Foundation (FHF) in response to the growing concern of bilaterally blind Filipinos. At that time, the Philippines had an estimated prevalence of 2% moderate to severe visual impairment and 0.58% bilaterally blind (Cubillan et al, 2017).

The program aims to reduce avoidable blindness among marginalized communities in these provinces by increasing government capability to sustainably manage its CEHP, supporting the set-up of eye-centering health-seeking behavior activities, and supporting regional DOG offices. The regional DOG offices aim to assist neighboring provinces with CEHP replication through collaborative inter-alliances encouraged by the Department of Interior Local Governments. 

The objectives of this research were the following:

General Objective:

To identify the best practices of the interventions deployed under the Department of Health’s Community Eye Health Program (CEHP) in Antique, Negros Oriental, Oriental Mindoro, and Quezon through a mixed method study

Specific Objectives:

• To describe the best practices of the program from 2019 to 2022 through a desk review of existing reports and qualitative interviews with implementing partners and stakeholders
• To analyze the interventions as best practices using global frameworks e.g. World Health Organization’s Building Blocks of Health and Center of Disease Control’s Best Practices
• To recommend sustainable and quality interventions for implementation

Methods

The project adopted a qualitative and descriptive study design through interviews with key informants and focus group discussions. The data collected with key stakeholders allowed the team to identify the best practices generated from the conceptual framework developed based on the World Health Organization’s “A Guide to Identifying and Documenting Best Practices in Family Planning Programs”. Aside from that, a document review was also done. These documents included existing program reports from the Fred Hollows Foundation.

The project’s target population is commonly affected households, provincial level local government units, and local health units in the four active project sites. For this study, purposive sampling was adapted in Antique, Negros Oriental, Oriental Mindoro, and Quezon provinces. For each project site, a total of 8-10 key informant interviews were conducted. Aside from that, a total of 4-5 focus group discussions were deployed with 8-10 participants each. 

Best Practices were identified from the interviews according to the conceptual framework used. These criteria included: effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, ethical soundness, sustainability, possibility of duplication, involvement of partnerships, community involvement, and political commitment. After these practices were extracted, they were then classified as best, leading, promising, and emerging, based on their impact on the community and the quality of evidence used.

Results and Discussion

The sole best practice identified in the provinces was their vision screening program, as it was able to fulfill the majority of the criteria set. Programs in the provinces were effective and efficient, as well as sustainable and well-supported by all sectors and stakeholders. Leading practices identified were the establishment of Public Eye Health Centers that provided services such as cataract surgery. Aside from this, Training for the Health Human Resources and Information, Education, Communication (IEC) materials, and a Strategic Policy Framework were considered as leading practices. Promising practices identified were the Referral System and Monitoring and Evaluation System, while Emerging Practices were the Inclusion of Marginalized Communities and Availability of Supplies, Instruments and Equipment.

Conclusion and Recommendations

From this Best Practices Study, it was concluded the data must be collected regularly to be able to highlight transparency and progress, while highlighting the need for continuous support and improvement. Policy is essential for the success of any eye health program, which is why local ordinances must be established early through collaborative partnerships and well-defined roles and responsibilities of stakeholders. While a best practices study is able to identify what works in communities, comparative analysis and impact evaluations must still be conducted in order to properly identify what makes the program successful.