Tag: Africa

Sustainable impact through community partnership

Through our unique approach, known as our Hospital-Based Community Eye Health Program model, we declared 51 communities or villages across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia as Avoidable Blindness-Free in 2022, including villages like Asafora, in Ghana. We work with community leaders and healthcare workers to ensure that the community supports and takes ownership of the process.

Asafora is like many other small villages in central Ghana; its several hundred residents are mostly farmers growing cassava and plantain, and many community members have faced barriers to accessing eye health care. What sets this community apart? It is the first village in the country we declared Avoidable Blindness-Free. The December 2022 declaration event… Continue reading Sustainable impact through community partnership

The Time is Now and Community Empowerment is Key

The novel coronavirus, COVID-19, is spreading across the globe and reaching the countries in Sub Saharan Africa and South Asia where we work. In Canada, as we have seen around the world, the mitigation efforts in confronting COVID-19 are focused on the behaviours of the individual, the family and the community. Prevention is essential and… Continue reading The Time is Now and Community Empowerment is Key

A woman with a passion for restoring sight and transforming lives

Alice Mwangi is our country manager in Kenya, and she’s worked with Operation Eyesight for the last eight years. We’re always excited for the chance to talk to our international team members because they have incredible experiences to share from their time in the field – and Alice had quite the story to tell! Alice… Continue reading A woman with a passion for restoring sight and transforming lives

You’re bringing precious eye care to the women of Zambia!

In 2018, of all the trachoma surgeries Operation Eyesight conducted, most of those who received trachoma surgery and treatment were women! In fact, most of the people who attend the outreach screening camps and the subsequent surgeries in the Sinazongwe District are women. Just like Evelyn, all these women are now able to live normal lives.

38-year-old Evelyn lives in Muziyo village, about 35 kilometers south of Zambia’s Sinazongwe District. What started as itching and irritation of the eyelids turned into severe, burning pain. Before long, Evelyn couldn’t even blink without feeling intense pain, and she started to lose some of her vision. “It was very painful for me to open… Continue reading You’re bringing precious eye care to the women of Zambia!