• Population: 21.1 million
• People living with vision loss: 1.68 million

IAPB Vision Atlas. (2025, May 22). IAPB Vision Atlas. https://visionatlas.iapb.org/  

We began working in Malawi in 2022, at the invitation of the Ministry of Health. Our situational analysis revealed a high prevalence of blindness among adults and the critical need for eye care services, especially in the more isolated northern region. We’ve partnered with district health departments to improve access to eye health care services in Chitipa, Karonga and Mzimba South.

2024 highlights

In 2024, our key focus was hospital strengthening. In partnership with the relevant District Health Directorates, we upgraded four outpatient departments and operation theatres in four district hospitals: Chitipa, Karonga, Mzimba North and Mzimba South. We also established our second vision centre in Chitipa, where we had launched a community eye health project in 2023. 

By training cataract surgeons and ensuring our partner facilities had the required equipment as well as the means to repair the equipment (read Dumisani’s story on page 10), we enabled all four districts to perform cataract surgeries, achieving positive post-operative outcomes. 

Through integrated eye health, we trained 15 primary health-care workers in primary eye care, linked 56 children under five years old with primary health centres for regular immunization, and linked 96 women with pre- and post-natal services at primary health centres.  

Through disease control programs, we worked with our partner, the OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation, to set up two eyeglass dispensing units at Mzimba North and Mzimba South. 

We also partner with the Islamic Health Mission, Mzuzu Central Hospital and Mzuzu University.

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  Communities | Vision Centres | Vision Centres

  New Vision Centre Opens in Malawi 

• Strengthening existing partner hospitals through equipment and training
• Intensifying eye health education activities to empower people to seek eye health care
• Exploring new partnerships