Main – CCB Eye Care Caribbean

Caribbean Optometrists Population Ranking – October 2026 – Jamaica, Belize, Bahamas from bottom Trinidad 1st, Guyana 2nd, Barbados 3rd from Top

CARIBBEAN COUNCIL FOR THE BLIND & VISUALLY IMPAIRED Celebrating the 26th anniversary of World Sight Day while serving the Caribbean for more than 59 years – Sept. 1967 to present First Semi-annual Ranking of Optometrists to Population, English-speaking Caribbean Arvel.grant@eyecarecaribbean.com. Advancing WHA resolution A74/9: integrated people-centered eye care, including preventable vision impairment and blindness. 1. Introduction Noting the 26th annual celebration of World Sight Day, the following table ranks the ratio of optometrists to population in countries of the English-speaking Caribbean. We included the United Kingdom as a benchmark indicator. Around the world, optometrists are recognized as the primary providers …

Primary Eye Care Training Manual by PAHO 2026

Our Strategic Priorities and Programmes 2023 to 2030

Theme: Vision for everyone…inclusive services for people living with severe vision loss and other disability. During more than27 international (online) meetings; these priorities were advanced by people with: vision loss; The Caribbean Blindness Services Forum; members of the Interim Academic Committee; CCB’s eye care partners and member organizations of the Council; and approved by the Executive Committee and general membership in 2023. The priorities assume continuation of all existing programs, unless discontinued by the CEO. They will inform: Events, projects or programs of CCB, its members and partners.These priorities are the main agenda for the CEO’s meetings and conversations with …

Announcing… Collaboration with The All-American Institute for Medical Sciences (AAIMS) to Start Training Optometrists in Black River, Jamaica by 4th Quarter, 2022

Why Train Optometrists in Jamaica?

With approximately one optometrist per 150,000 Jamaicans, there is a critical shortage of Optometrists in Jamaica, and this is clearly a major contributor to avoidable blindness in Jamaica. In Canada, England, and the United States, the ratio is closer to 6,000 people per Optometrist and in Guyana and Trinidad, the ratio is approaching one Optometrist per 10,000 people. Jamaica lags significantly in this important health matrix.

The All-American Institute for Medical Sciences (AAIMS) is training Optometrists at its campus in Black River

AAIMS operates under charter from the Government of Jamaica and has been training allied and other health professionals in Black River, Jamaica for 10 years.

What is Optometry?

Optometrists are primary providers of the eye care team and optometry is a profession supplementary to medicine. Optometrists collaborate with other members of the eye health team including Ophthalmologists, Orthoptists, Ocularists, Ophthalmic Technicians, and Ocular Imaging Technicians.

What is the BSc in Optometry?

The degree is in the genre of Optometry training programmes in the United Kingdom. Students must complete 3 years of theory and practice, and also a 4 th year of supervised practice.

How are Optometrist registered to practice?

Optometrists trained in Jamaica are registered under Section 8-B of the Opticians Act of 1926. To apply for registration, candidates must be trained in an institution, college, or university, chartered or recognized by the Government of Jamaica. The Registrar-General is responsible for registering Optometrists.

So, what do Optometrists earn in Jamaica? Do the calculations yourself!

The following assumptions estimate the income profile of Optometrists in Jamaica:

a) Average case load of 15 patients per day at J$5,000 per patient.
b) Perform advanced diagnostic tests starting at J$9,000 per patient.
c) Prescribing, fitting, and selling eyeglasses ranging from J$16,000 to J$145,000 or higher.
d) Measuring, fitting, and supplying soft or rigid contact lenses for as much as J$150,000 or higher.
e) Fitting and prescribing low vision devices starting at J$25,000.
f) Providing Occupational Optometry services to businesses at an average of J$5,000.00 per employee plus the
cost of their eyeglasses, contact lenses, or low vision devices.

* Get trained as an Optometrist and make a comfortable income while providing quality eye health services.

* Have a good math and science background? (CSEC, CAPE or higher) This could be your calling!

* Depending on their mode of practice, Optometry graduates could repay their student loans in 2-5 years.

Delivering Vision 2020 in the Caribbean – CCB in collaboration with Sightsavers

Sightsavers’ final report on “Delivering V2020 in the Caribbean” covers a European Union-funded partnership with the Caribbean Council for the Blind and its member organizations in Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, and St. Lucia, running from January 2010 to August 2016. The project strengthened public eye care systems and the capacity of local organizations and Vision 2020 committees to shape national eye health policy. It established 15 rural Vision Centres, equipped or upgraded six operating theatres and five spectacle labs, and trained more than 1,300 eye health workers. It also helped launch the first Bachelor of Optometry programme in the region at the University of Guyana. In total, 260,990 people were screened, 152,494 were treated, and 9,037 operations were performed, and an independent evaluation estimated that over 400,000 people previously outside the reach of eye care benefited.

CCB extends condolences to the family, friends and associates of William “Bill” Lightbourne

On behalf of our President Kerryann Ifill (of Barbados), The Members of the Executive Committee and the wider membership of the Caribbean Council for the Blind, I extend condolences to the family, friends and associates of William “Bill” Lightbourne. I first heard about Bill on a development visit to the Turks and Caicos Islands close to three decades ago. Everywhere I went (from Grand Turk to Provo) people told me about Bill Lightbourne. When I asked to meet him, they told me that he was a “Son of the Turks” but he was doing great works in the Bahamas. When …

B Sc. Optometry Antigua

SCHOOL OF OPTOMETRY AND VISION STUDIES

B SC. OPTOMETRY TO COMMENCE DELIVERY AT THE ANTIGUA STATE COLLEGE FOR EVENTUAL INTEGRATION TO THE UWI 4^TH LANDED CAMPUS.

A RIGHT TO SIGHT INITIATIVE BY THE GOVERNMENT AND PEOPLE OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA AND THE CARIBBEAN COUNCIL FOR THE BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED.

Preventing blindness and visual impairment; while restoring sight and creating opportunities for persons whose sight cannot be restored.

165,000 Jamaicans to One Optometrist – Worst in English Speaking CARICOM

Is someone blocking the registration of Optometrists in Jamaica? Why are new applicants having so much difficulty getting registered? My name is Arvel Grant. I am the Chief Executive Officer of the Caribbean Council for the Blind (CCB-Eye Care Caribbean). I was born in Black River, St. Elizabeth, and thanks to the Government and people of Jamaica, I was educated at an all age school in the high-lands of Westmoreland, The Salvation Army school for the Blind in Kingston and the University of the West Indies (Mona campus), where my studies included a Master of Public Health from the Faculty …

Training of 16 Diabetic Retinopathy Screeners from Dominica, Jamaica and St Lucia completed

In keeping with its purpose “to prevent blindness and visual impairment”, Caribbean Council for the Blind (CCB) in collaboration with The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust and Sight Savers International completed the training of 16 Diabetic Retinopathy Screeners from: Dominica, Jamaica and St. Lucia. Each batch was trained over a period of 40 contact hours. Screeners from Jamaica were trained at the Eye Department, Mandeville Regional Hospital

Mandeville Regional Hospital – A Journey To Improved Eye Care

Mandeville, Manchester — The Mandeville Regional Hospital now boasts upgraded eye care services. For stakeholders, the journey to the recent official opening of an ophthalmology clinic and an operating theatre could not have been successfully done without the support of willing partners. “(The) project was so extensive that we had to undertake it in a relay format. One person had to pass the baton onto others. I am happy that it is successfully anchored,” said regional director for the Southern Regional Health Authority (SRHA), Michael Bent.