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In February, WHO AFRO and IAPB held a consultation workshop in Nairobi attended by eye health experts with the overall objective of validating the core competencies required to inform training and quality of care by the eye health professionals’ within the Sub-Saharan Africa region. This meeting was the second face to face review of the competences, the first held in September 2017.
The development of competency frameworks for the different levels of the eye health workforce is a critical component of the IAPB Africa HRH Strategy and this workshop marked a major milestone in improving the quality and relevance of the care provided by the professional eye health workforce, thereby contributing to universal eye health care.
The experts were made up of representatives of each of the respective cadres drawn from the different linguistic zones and sub regions of the continent as well as country representatives. Experts reviewed a draft which had already undergone the initial review and two rounds of the Delphi process.
During the workshop they critically reviewed a set of draft core competencies in terms of content, terminology and layout. Time was then given to discussion until consensus was reached around each component. The review and plenary exercises resulted in rich debate regarding the differentiation between the three cadres as well as the key content of the competences and their domains.
The outcome of this workshop is a set of core competencies validated by the eye health experts and country representatives. The group also agreed on the structure of the document. The next step is for the document to undergo the internal WHO process of technical and language editing and design and layout leading to an approved and published document. The final document it scheduled from release in English, French and Portuguese in September 2018.
Simon Day,
IAPB Africa Regional Programme Coordinator,
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