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RecruitingNCT07443683Updated Apr 30, 2026

Does Orientation On Eye Health To Female Health Volunteers Increase Footfall In A Vision Center

An interventional study of Educational Session in Female Community Health Volunteers and Eye Disorders, sponsored by Seva Canada Society. Recruiting at 1 site in Nepal. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 58 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-04-30.

Sponsored by Seva Canada Society · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Feb 2026; still recruiting 9 months later.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
149
Allocation
Non-randomized
Ages
18 Years to 58 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The goal of this interventional comparative study is to see if one day eye health orientation to Female Community Health Volunteers will increase footfall of patients in a Vision Center. Total of 58 Female Community Health Volunteers of Dipayal Silagadhi Municipality will receive eye health education. There is one Vision Center at Dipayal Silagadhi. Similarly there is one Vision Center at Chainpur Bajhang. Here FCHV will not receive one day eye health orientation. Currently both Vision Centers provide similar number of services. We shall compare and see if there will be any change in the number of people coming to these vision center.

Female Community Health Volunteers in Dipayal Silgadhi will be asked to refer eye patients to the nearest Vision Center. They will be given

  1. Eye health orientation session
  2. Referral slip
Read the detailed description

Every year thousands of FCHVs receive orientation on eye health. These training sessions are organized by eye hospitals and eye centers. There is a belief that FCHV play vital role in bridging the gap between community and health providers. Eye hospital staff also feel that training FCHV helps connect with community. Some centers conducts FCHV training program just before surgical camps. It is assumed that doing so increases the community people attending the camps. Despite the existing practices little is known about the effectiveness of eye health orientation to FCHVs. This study will help to find out the result of orientating FCHVs on eye Health.

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a one-day eye health orientation provided to Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs) on the utilization of eye care services in rural Nepal. The intervention is facilitated by Seva Foundation/Seva Canada Society, in collaboration with Geta Eye Hospital, the leading eye care provider in Sudurpashchim Province. Launched nationally in 1988, FCHVs play a critical role in linking communities to primary health services. Given their widespread reach and strong rapport with local populations, FCHVs are well-positioned to support eye care delivery, particularly in raising awareness and referring patients in need of services. While Seva Nepal and partners have oriented more than 3,000 FCHVs across Nepal, there is limited empirical evidence on the impact of such training. This study seeks to determine whether FCHV orientation leads to measurable increases in eye care service uptake and to explore optimal training

The study follows an interventional comparative study design. Study Population is FCHV's of Dipayal Silgadhi Municipality Doti District, Jayaprithvi Municipality and Chhabishpathivara Rural Municipality in Bajhang District. Convenience sampling method has been applied. The intervention group consists of 58 FCHVs in Dipayal Silgadhi Municipality (Doti District), where orientation will be provided. The non-interventional group includes 91 FCHVs from Jayaprithivi Municipality and Chabbis Pathibhara.

Inclusion Criteria: All the FCHVs in above mentioned municipalities whe are interested to take part in the study

Exclusion Criteria: FCHVs not interessted participate in the study.

Rural Municipality (Bajhang District). The populations served are comparable, approximately 5000

patients examined in each serving eye centers covering 34,000 to 36,500 people each.

The orientation session will last four hours and be delivered by an Ophthalmic Assistant trained in a

standardized Training of Trainers (ToT) format. Content will include the burden of eye diseases in

Nepal, common eye conditions, early detection, prevention, and available eye care services.

Training materials such as referral slips, pamphlets, and posters will be distributed. No incentives

will be provided for referrals.

Data collection will span one year, beginning from the day of orientation. Referral slips completed

by FCHVs will be collected monthly, and patient data including name, age, gender, presenting and

final visual acuity, diagnosis, and distance traveled, will be recorded at the Eye Care Centre level.

Pre- and post-training evaluations will also be conducted to assess FCHV knowledge improvement.

Key indicators include:

Change in patient footfall compared to the previous year

Number of referrals versus actual visits

Gender and age breakdown of referred patients

Comparison of referral in the intervention and non-intervention group

Data will be maintained securely in Excel and shared monthly with the project team. While the study is subject to selection bias, as municipalities were not randomized, the findings are expected to provide important insights. The anticipated outcomes are increased referrals, improved access across gender and age groups, and evidence of training effectiveness. Results will guide Seva and partner hospitals in determining the future scale-up of FCHV eye health orientation programs.

02

Conditions studied

  • Female Community Health Volunteers
  • Eye Disorders

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Keywords

  • Female Community Health Volunteers
  • Eye health awareness
  • Nepal
03

In context

Eye Diseases

388 studies on the registry are indexed under Eye Diseases; 62 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 149 is above the median of 62 across 269 interventional studies indexed under Eye Diseases.

Browse Eye Diseases studies →

Lead sponsor

Seva Canada Society is the lead sponsor of 10 studies on the registry; 10 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 58 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Female Community Health Volunteers of Dipayal Silgadhi Municiplality

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Female Community Health Volunteers of other Municipalities
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Non-randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
149 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • No intervention
    Vision Center

    No Educational Session to Female Community Health Volunteers of the Municipality where Vision Center is located

  • Experimental
    Eye Health Orientation

    Orientation On Eye Health To Female Health Volunteers Increase Footfall In A Vision Center

    Behavioral: Educational Session

Interventions

  • BehavioralEducational Session

    Educational Session

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. International comparative study to see if one day eye health orientation to Female Community Health Volunteers will increase footfall of patients in a Vision Center

    The goal of this international comparative study is to see if one day eye health orientation to Female Community Health Volunteers will increase footfall of patients in a Vision Center. Total of 58 Female Community Health Volunteers of Dipayal Silagadhi Municipality will receive eye health education. There is one Vision Center at Dipayal Silagadhi. Similarly there is one Vision Center at Chainpur Bajhang. Here FCHV will not receive one day eye health orientation. Currently both Vision Centers provide similar number of services. We shall compare and see if there will be any change in the number of people coming to these vision center. Female Community Health Volunteers in Dipayal Silgadhi will be asked to refer eye patients to the nearest Vision Center. They will be given 1. Eye health orientation session 2. Referral slip

    Time frame: One year

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • Geta Eye Hospital
    Dhangadi, Sudurpaschim, Nepal
    Recruiting
    • Suresh Pant, Ophthalmologist · Contactdrsrpant1@hotmail.com · 977 984-1342757
    • Ramesh Bhatta, Masters · Principal investigator
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References and documents

Publications

  • Rawal LB, Sun Y, Dahal PK, Baral SC, Khanal S, Arjyal A, Manandhar S, Abdullah AS. Engaging Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs) for cardiovascular diseases risk screening in Nepal. PLoS One. 2022 Jan 6;17(1):e0261518. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0261518. eCollection 2022. PubMed 34990481 ↗
  • Bechange S, Schmidt E, Ruddock A, Khan IK, Gillani M, Roca A, Nazir I, Iqbal R, Buttan S, Bilal M, Ahmed L, Jolley E. Understanding the role of lady health workers in improving access to eye health services in rural Pakistan - findings from a qualitative study. Arch Public Health. 2021 Feb 17;79(1):20. doi: 10.1186/s13690-021-00541-3. PubMed 33597017 ↗
  • Panday S, Bissell P, Teijlingen EV, Simkhada P. Perceived barriers to accessing Female Community Health Volunteers' (FCHV) services among ethnic minority women in Nepal: A qualitative study. PLoS One. 2019 Jun 10;14(6):e0217070. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0217070. eCollection 2019. PubMed 31181077 ↗
  • Gnyawali S, Bhattarai D, Upadhyay MP. Utilization of primary eye health services by people from a rural community of Nepal. Nepal J Ophthalmol. 2012 Jan-Jun;4(1):96-101. doi: 10.3126/nepjoph.v4i1.5859. PubMed 22344005 ↗
  • Acharya D, Singh JK, Adhikari S, Jain V. Association between sociodemographic characteristics of female community health volunteers and their knowledge and performance on maternal and child health services in rural Nepal. J Multidiscip Healthc. 2016 Mar 21;9:111-20. doi: 10.2147/JMDH.S98700. eCollection 2016. PubMed 27051292 ↗
  • O'Brien KS, Byanju R, Kandel RP, Poudyal B, Gonzales JA, Porco TC, Whitcher JP, Srinivasan M, Upadhyay M, Lietman TM, Keenan JD; Village-Integrated Eye Worker Trial Group. Village-integrated eye workers for prevention of corneal ulcers in Nepal (VIEW study): a cluster-randomised controlled trial. Lancet Glob Health. 2022 Apr;10(4):e501-e509. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(21)00596-9. PubMed 35303460 ↗
  • Dhital R, Silwal RC, Pokhrel KN, Pokhrel S, Tuladhar H, Bright S, Tunnacliffe EA, Thapa K, Makins A. Evaluating the impact of female community health volunteer involvement in a postpartum family planning intervention in Nepal: A mixed-methods study at one-year post-intervention. PLoS One. 2021 Oct 20;16(10):e0258834. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258834. eCollection 2021. PubMed 34669735 ↗
  • Shrestha MK, Shrestha UD. Role of community volunteers in pediatric eye screening. Nepal J Ophthalmol. 2014 Jan;6(11):119-21. doi: 10.3126/nepjoph.v6i1.10784. No abstract available. PubMed 25341838 ↗
  • Panday S, Bissell P, van Teijlingen E, Simkhada P. The contribution of female community health volunteers (FCHVs) to maternity care in Nepal: a qualitative study. BMC Health Serv Res. 2017 Sep 4;17(1):623. doi: 10.1186/s12913-017-2567-7. PubMed 28870185 ↗
  • Khatri RB, Mishra SR, Khanal V. Female Community Health Volunteers in Community-Based Health Programs of Nepal: Future Perspective. Front Public Health. 2017 Jul 21;5:181. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2017.00181. eCollection 2017. PubMed 28785555 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No — Considering the nature of study there is no need for individual information

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Apr 30, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT07443683
Lead sponsor
Seva Canada Society
Collaborators
Geta Eye Hospital
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Mar 2, 2026
Start date
Feb 2, 2026
Primary completion
Dec 30, 2026 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 30, 2026 (estimated)
Last update
Apr 30, 2026

Study contacts

Parami Dhakhwa, Masters in Business Studies
Contact
pdhakhwa@seva.org
9779841509003
Ramesh Bhatta, Masters
Contact
ramesh.bhatta@getaeyehospital.org.np
9779868591160
Priya Reddy, PHD
study director · Seva Canada Society

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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