The Armenian EyeCare Project (AECP) has launched a screening, diagnostics, and treatment program to combat neo-natal retinopathy, an ailment on the rise in Armenia. Led by AECP international associates, treatment for Retinopathy of Prematurity will be implemented in several Neonatal Intensive Care Units in Yerevan.

Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) is a condition in which abnormal changes occur in the retina that can result in childhood blindness. The risk group for ROP is defined as infants born with a birth weight of less than 1500 g or with a gestational age of 30 weeks or less.

In Armenia about 500-600 children are born annually who belong to the risk group. Meanwhile, the ROP screening, early detection and treatment has not been available in Armenia. As a result, the vision problems of such children is discovered too late, making treatment less effective.

Before the practical launch of the project, an international conference on the topic of ‘Prevention of the Retinopathy of Prematurity in Armenia,’ took place on June 28-29, in Yerevan.

Chief ophthalmologist of Armenia, Alexander Malayan, AECP medical director, stated at the opening ceremony of the conference, that the disease might be caused by different types of complications during pregnancy; and almost 70 percent of the cases result in irretrievable blindness. According to Malayan, it is very hard to examine an infant’s eye, and specialists with outstanding qualifications are needed to do that.

“So this program, that we managed to implement in Armenia, is a great achievement in the Ophthalmological Clinics and in the history of neonatology,” he says.

Head of AECP Public Relations Minas Hambardzumyan told ArmeniaNow that special trainings for the Armenian specialists on screening of premature infants, ROP detection, laser treatment and implementation of advanced equipment (mainly retina cameras) are main features of the training.

“Besides, they [foreign specialists] will be on hand to provide local specialists [Armenian doctors] with corresponding professional consultation by means of telemedicine [later the images shot by retina cameras will be sent to the foreign doctors],” Hambardzumyan says.

Within the framework of the program, the treatment of children under 7 years old will be provided by state budget, and the treatment for adults (who may have lived unknowingly with the ailment) will be at a modest charge.