Avaliação da acuidade visual em indígenas e os desafios pandêmicos.

Vision is considered one of the most important senses for the neuropsychomotor development of children and is essential for learning and socialization from the first years of life. However, the changes in anatomical and physiological conformations of the child's eye, which occur during growth, make children susceptible to eye health problems, requiring early identification and treatment so that they can be resolved. Therefore, this paper aims to present an experience report on the extension project "Visual Acuity Screening and Ametropia Identification in an Urban Terena Community in Campo Grande (Brazil)" developed by an academic team from the Medical School of the Mato Grosso do Sul State University. This project aimed at assessing the visual acuity in children aged 3 to 12 years old and was developed in four stages: planning of activities with the community, training of the work team, application of the visual acuity screening test, and strategies for health education in ophthalmology. Because the course of its development was affected by the Covid-19 scenario, it was essential for the academic team to make adaptations to minimize the negative impacts of the pandemic on the project, which had the participation of about 30 children. The results of this action provided early detection of low visual acuity in 4 children, 13% of the total surveyed. In addition, the action strengthened the institution-community relationship amid the Covid-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]