Review of school vision screening guidelines

Abstract: Background: Vision screenings are important in identifying visual anomalies likely to disrupt the physical, intellectual, social and emotional development of children. School health services globally include vision screenings, complementing a variety of associated screening services. Aim: This review article provides evidence for content, provision and efficacy of the vision screening services for children of school-going age and reports on the current practice of children’s vision screenings worldwide including in South Africa. Methods: Studies were identified from PubMed, Ebscohost and Science Direct with the search terms utilised during the selection of electronic articles and journals for the review. The target population includes children of school-going age from 6 to 19 years without previously known conditions associated with visual anomalies and learning-related problems. The quality of vision screening programmes and policies for the school-going age children in different countries were evaluated using Wilson and Jungner criteria.1 Results: Vision screening programmes worldwide appear to support comprehensive vision screening methods among pre-schoolers (from birth to ≤ 6 years vs. children of school-going age). The development of vision screening procedures in some countries in the United States of America (USA) was found to be grounded on epidemiologic findings and principles. These may have contributed towards the formulation of national vision screening guidelines for preschoolers that supported the detection of amblyopia and its associated conditions such as strabismus, anisometropia and myopia. School-going children’s vision screenings are not supported worldwide as research has shown that there is lack of benefits for detecting other visual anomalies such as vergence and accommodative dysfunctions. This is despite evidence provided by the literature reviewed that an association exists between prevalent accommodation and vergence dysfunctions including poor ocular motilities and poor near-vision, among children of school-going age with poor academic performance. Conclusion: The guidelines worldwide support school vision screenings, especially for the pre-schoolers by the school health nurses, with other programs having considered the teachers, optometrists or orthoptists as the appropriate personnel to conduct the school vision screenings. There is still a need for the effectiveness of the school vision-screening programmes to be investigated related to the importance of detecting convergence and accommodative dysfunctions for the school going age children

Local Authority planning provision for Event Management in Ireland: A Socio-Cultural Perspective

The increasing popularity of the event sector in Ireland has resulted in many community events being developed and marketed to international and domestic tourists alike. This growth has had an effect on host communities in a positive and negative manner. This paper assesses the current levels of Local Authority socio-cultural planning provision and guidelines for event management in Ireland. To achieve this, a content analysis approach was used to illustrate which Local Authorities in the Republic of Ireland employed socio-cultural tools and indicators for event management. Accordingly, analysis revealed a lack of Local Authority socio-cultural planning guidelines or policies for event management. However, this offers and opportunity to be improved by implementing and applying best practice indicators in socio-cultural policies and guidelines for event management in Ireland

Waste minimisation clubs: a cost-efficient policy instrument?

The total amount of solid waste generated in Europe is estimated to grow by 10% every year and there is increased concern over the associated environmental impacts. As a result, the minimization of waste at source in business and industry is a top priority in the European Community's waste strategy. In the UK, regional Waste Minimisation Clubs (WMCs) have been established to promote sustainable waste management in business and industry. The company clusters taking part in these clubs have reported financial savings combined with reductions in environmental impact. These results are disseminated to encourage further savings by the UK industry. This paper examines the savings as well as the costs involved in ten WMCs. It finds that there is a lack of standardization in the reporting of WMC results. This makes it difficult to evaluate the influence of WMCs, whilst also having an adverse effect on the credibility of waste minimization in business. Despite these problems, the paper finds that there is still strong evidence to suggest that these ten WMCs have been efficient in stimulating cost savings by industry, with an average rate of return on investment of 170%. It also finds that the financial benefits for companies are key outcomes of WMCs and that these benefits significantly exceed the estimated social benefits of the reduced environmental burden

Bridging the gap: An attempt to reconcile strategic planning and very local community-based planning in rural England

This paper reviews briefly the emergence of holistic governance at the strategic and very local levels in rural England before reporting a programme of action research designed to address the need to develop an effective 'bridge' between planning activity at those two levels. Attention is focused particularly upon the recent wave of parish and market town plans on the one hand and local strategic partnerships and community strategies on the other. Taking cognisance of relevant contextual literature relating to representative and participative democracy and to top-down and bottom-up planning, it draws conclusions about the challenge of developing a synergistic relationship between strategic and very local planning and about the prospects for reconciling some of the tensions pointed up in those theoretical debates

The Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 Awareness, experience and impact

8.00; report of a qualitative study carried out by Social and Community Planning Research on behalf of the Dept. of the EnvironmentAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:OP-91/ENV / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo