A New Zealand optometrist who's heading to Papua New Guinea next week as part of a mission to provide eye care in Madang hopes to pass on knowledge that could prevent cases of eye disease.
Keaton Daya will help upskill local post graduate diploma students who are training to become ophthalmic clinicians as part of the Fred Hollows Foundation's eye care programme.
The 23 year old will train the students on their refraction skills, which involves early detection of common eye health issues during examinations.
Mr Daya says he's aware that in PNG there will be a lot of conditions that could be avoided through early detection.
"I'm anticipating there might be a lot of cataracts because in third world countries it's really hard to get cataract surgery and that's a really large scale that can be preventable blindness. Even if you prescribe glasses it will benefit them a lot more and they don't even have access to that basic healthcare."
New Zealand optometrist Keaton Daya.