Barriers and incentives for conducting research amongst the ophthalmologists in Sub-Sahara Africa.

Background: Research is a critical component amongst the strategies to improve health outcomes of any country. The role of research assumes greater importance in Africa as it carries a larger share of the global burden of diseases, blindness, and low vision. "Vision 2020- the Right to Sight" is a WHO-IAPB collaborated initiative aiming to eliminate preventable blindness by the year 2020.

Results and safety profile of trainee cataract surgeons in a community setting in East Africa.

Purpose: To evaluate the results and safety profile of assistant medical officer ophthalmologists (AMO-O) performing cataract surgery in the last stage of their surgical training, before their appointment to local communities.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the records of patients who underwent cataract surgery by AMO-Os at Dar es Salaam, Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation for Tanzania Disability Hospital between September 2008 and June 2011. Surgical options were either extracapsular cataract extraction (ECCE) or manual small incision cataract surgery (MSICS), both with polymethylmethacrylate intraocular lens implantation.