Arclight: Empowering healthcare workers in Rwanda and beyond
Eye care is a dimension of health that is often overlooked. This is a particular issue in low-resource communities where other social or health challenges prevent patients from seeking care until it is too late. In these communities, there is an urgent need for effective medical training and practice that provides quality eye care.
Gatera Fiston Kitema, an ophthalmic clinical officer from Rwanda and a postgraduate student in the School of Medicine in St Andrews, is working to address these needs by combining his expertise in eye care with economical and effective diagnostic and training tools developed by the Arclight Project social enterprise, based at the University.
The enables those working in low- and middle-income countries to equip, train and empower health workers of all grades to confidently diagnose and manage eye and ear disease.
Fiston, who is also an Assistant Lecturer at the University of Rwanda, met Dr Andrew Blaikie, Senior Lecturer in Ophthalmology at the University of St Andrews, at an eye care conference in Uganda in 2018, where he first learned about the Arclight device, a low-cost diagnostic tool developed here in St Andrews.
Combining three functions, the Arclight is a robust and compact solar-powered device for diagnosing eye and ear disease. Its portability and efficient design have attracte d widespread recognition, and it was recently included in the World Health Organisation (WHO) report on eye examinations for newborns, and the WHO
Inspired by its capability to simplify the process of training and diagnosis, Fiston and colleagues developed a proposal, funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), to integrate the Arclight into the education of healthcare students at the University of Rwanda.
Building on research funded in part by the University of St Andrews Impact Fund, Fiston is now evaluating the wider impact of Arclight training on the delivery of eye health services. The project examines how the training will translate into qualified healthcare workers’ practice, with particular emphasis on improving the quality of eye care delivery and enhancing collaborative teamwork.
Having trained as an Ophthalmic Clinical Officer, Fiston’s work has extended from treating individual patients to developing healthcare within wider communities throughout Africa, understanding where diseases come from, and how they can be detected while treatment is still possible. Eye examinations can often help detect other major health issues, such as hypertension or diabetes, so collaborative practice between eye and other general medical health care workers is vital.
With support from influential bodies such as the Rwandan Ministry of Health and Biomedical Centre, Fiston is well-placed to ensure that the results of his GCRF-funded PhD reach as far as possible, by expanding the provision of quality eye care for low-resource communities and improving training for future generations of health professionals.
Findings from this important research can help inform future policy and practice in health facilities and training institutions across Rwanda and beyond, and in 2023 Dr Andrew Blaikie, Arclight Project lead and consultant ophthalmologist with NHS Fife, was awarded the NHS Global Citizenship Award in recognition of this work.