We began working in Ethiopia in 2018 through our work with Partners in Education Ethiopia. Over our five years working in Ethiopia, we have built partnerships with ophthalmic departments at five hospitals across the country and have so far established vision centres at three of these hospitals.

In 2022, these vision centres provided eye exams for more than 12,000 people and dispensed 435 pairs of eyeglasses.

Thanks to investments in supplies, healthcare staff training and infrastructure in 2022, the vision centres can now refer patients requiring advanced care such as cataracts surgery to hospital.

In 2022, we trained 23 local health workers to conduct door-to-door eye health screenings in the community. We also provided advanced training to 12 ophthalmic personnel and primary eye care training to 13 health professionals. Additionally, we trained 14 teachers in eye health screening.

We worked with the Bahir Dar University (BDU), located in the state of Amhara, College of Medicine and Health Sciences to establish well-equipped examination rooms for training medical students. These students in turn screened school teachers in the community for eye health problems and also taught teachers to conduct eye health screenings for their students. As a result, nearly 5,000 students were screened, and those requiring treatment were referred to a vision centre.

Despite setbacks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we expanded our work with Partners in Education Ethiopia, impacting more patients and families than ever before. With support from the Peter Gilgan Foundation, we implemented WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) projects, drilling boreholes in three communities and providing clean water to help prevent the spread of blinding trachoma. We also worked alongside five schools to provide resources and education materials supporting hand and face washing, personal hygiene and menstrual hygiene management.

Learn more about our work in Ethiopia in 2022.