ASPECT IN THE PACIFIC: WALKING THE AID TIGHTROPE

Abstract

The Australian South Pacific Eye Consultant Teams (ASPECT) have been functioning since 1985, building on previous experience with the provision of eye health services in the independent countries of the South Pacific. The key issues in the provision of aid to developing countries are the desires of those countries to receive aid, the delivery of care that is pertinent to local conditions and the training which can be delivered to local health care workers so that aid programmes will eventually make themselves redundant.