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Aim: Provision of vision care to patients in areas of under-developed infrastructure. Subjects: Provision of vision care should include determining the prescription and the immediate supply of spectacles. There should be a repair facility. The examination and provision of the glasses should be possible in unfavorable conditions and at a reasonable price. The labour needed, and the related education required, plus the production of materials should encourage a home-grown service. This will lead to the establishment of a professional service. Results: Although some NGOs are setting up self-sustaining services, in many cases help provided from the outside fails to create an immediate and continuing solution for the patient's needs. This article shows the need for treatment, as described in the literature, a brief discussion of services being provided and a proposal for improvement in facilitating the examination, production and the development of optometric care. Conclusion: The proposed system will require field research to verify the claims made and the viability of implementing it in the specific environment. If the proposed system is proven to be reliable, and financially viable, an industry can be created for the indigenous supply of vision care at a suitable cost to the patient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review presents the extent to which engagement in research and new developments in clinical practice alike have contributed to the establishment and development of the primary vision care profession in New Zealand that is Optometry. Many notable changes have occurred in the scope of practice of the profession over the past three decades and an important role of visual neuroscience, neurobiology and pharmaceuticals allowed the introduction of therapeutic prescribing responsibilities to a previously optics dominated profession. Scientific, optometric, medical and clinical research are factors leading the changes in scope of practice of Optometrists. These advancements have significantly expanded the scope of practice since Optometry training began in the 1960s, and has been supported by close working relationships with other health professionals in New Zealand. This article describes the history of Optometry in New Zealand from early practitioners, to the establishment of a degree programme at the University of Auckland. Along with undergraduate teaching, a strong tradition of vision science research has established New Zealand as a centre of internationally recognised expertise in a range of areas including myopia and visual neuroscience. The Optometry profession has developed to deliver primary eye care at a community level across the country in a range of areas of special interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep learning has recently gained high interest in ophthalmology due to its ability to detect clinically significant features for diagnosis and prognosis. Despite these significant advances, little is known about the ability of various deep learning systems to be embedded within ophthalmic imaging devices, allowing automated image acquisition. In this work, we will review the existing and future directions for 'active acquisition'–embedded deep learning, leading to as high-quality images with little intervention by the human operator. In clinical practice, the improved image quality should translate into more robust deep learning–based clinical diagnostics. Embedded deep learning will be enabled by the constantly improving hardware performance with low cost. We will briefly review possible computation methods in larger clinical systems. Briefly, they can be included in a three-layer framework composed of edge, fog, and cloud layers, the former being performed at a device level. Improved egde-layer performance via 'active acquisition' serves as an automatic data curation operator translating to better quality data in electronic health records, as well as on the cloud layer, for improved deep learning–based clinical data mining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]