Yet despite a remarkable increase in wealthy individuals, life for the vast majority of Indians has not improved. A large proportion of the population still lacks access to quality health care; and while the country has 17.5 percent of the world’s population, it has 20.5 percent of the world’s blind. Another 54 million people struggle with low vision, much of it untreated. There is still much work for us to do in India!

That’s why we are proud to offer our own solution: an innovative program that, when widely implemented, has the potential to actually eliminate avoidable blindness from the service areas of eye hospitals. Our Hospital-Based Community Eye Health Program is designed to provide comprehensive eye care and blindness prevention to India’s poorest people.

Developed by our India staff and piloted in 2010, this program has been implemented by 25 of our Indian hospital partners and has already made a considerable impact in the fight against avoidable blindness.

In 2013, our model was enthusiastically endorsed by Vision 2020 India, a national eye health advocacy group. The group is encouraging all Indian hospitals to adopt Operation Eyesight’s model, regardless of whether they are in direct financial partnership with us.

With the support of our donors and the successful implementation of our Hospital-Based Community Eye Health Program, we are demonstrating that the elimination of avoidable blindness is possible!

You can read more about our Programs and Projects on our website.

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Have you ever heard of Majuli Island? It’s no great surprise if you haven’t. It’s located in the Brahmaputra River in India’s remote northeastern state of Assam.

Because of its isolation, the island had extremely limited health facilities, and no eye health care at all for its 150,000 people. In 2012, Operation Eyesight launched a hospital-based community eye health project there.

Located south of Majuli Island is the city of Jorhat, where our partner Chandra Prabha Eye Hospital is based. Together, we share the mission of ensuring that nobody should be blind because they are poor or because they live too far from a hospital or a doctor. That shared mission, made possible by our generous donors, was what brought us to Majuli Island.

The island is battered by floods three months of the year, cutting off the twice-daily ferry that is the only transportation to the mainland. Its residents face significant erosion of their home. These were just some of the physical factors the new eye health project had to overcome.

The project’s first phase involved recruiting staff, including 10 local community health workers, and conducting door-to-door surveys. This comprehensive study discovered that a shocking six percent of the island’s total population suffered from cataracts, and another six percent had other blinding conditions.

As a result, two vision centres were permanently established on the island, manned by trained vision technicians. These centres are open for walk-in visits, comprehensive eye exams and the distribution of eyeglasses. They provide referrals for surgery and care at Chandra Prabha, which supplies treatment for all Majuli islanders, regardless of their ability to pay.

There is still much work to be done, such as increasing immunization coverage to 100 percent, eliminating vitamin A deficiency blindness and ensuring that women receive ante-natal and post-natal care. Our donors should be proud that they have brought sight and hope to Majuli Island!

Want to learn more about how our donors are saving sight and providing hope in the developing world? Read our Sightlines newsletter here.

The post Saving sight on Asia’s largest river island appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

The last of the sun’s rays cast over a small village near the India-Bangladesh border. Nurbhanu is finishing up her final house call of the day.

As a community health worker with Operation Eyesight’s Community-Based Eye Health Project in West Bengal, India, she is used to working late into the evening.

Tomorrow, a team from Siliguri Greater Lions Eye Hospital (SGLEH), Operation Eyesight’s partner hospital, is holding a screening program in the village. Nurbhanu’s job is to promote the screening and ensure that those identified during an earlier door-to-door survey attend.

Nurbhanu (whose name means ‘Lady of the Light’) has made a mark for herself in her community, bringing light to villages primarily inhabited by Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh.

Being from the same community and from an Orthodox family, Nurbhanu was a bit hesitant to take on the job at first. But, with her husband Mohamed’s endless encouragement, she has done tremendous work in a difficult area.

Since she began working as a community health worker two years ago, Nurbhanu has conducted more than 14 screening programs. Through these programs, she has helped more than 1,600 people receive an eye examination, 450 people undergo surgery and 320 people receive glasses.

Most of the beneficiaries have been Muslim women who now look to Nurbhanu for their family’s eye health needs.

Nurbhanu’s successes have not come without sacrifice. She spent 25 days away from home to undergo rigorous training conducted by Operation Eyesight and SGLEH staff. Most days she travels many kilometres on bicycle, comes home late and then cooks dinner for her children.

Convincing Muslim women that their children should undergo immunization, and counselling patients who are otherwise reluctant to undergo surgery has not been easy. Yet Nurbhanu continues to deliver, day after day.

Mohamed is proud of his wife and the work she is doing. “It’s painful to see those who cannot see what they have on their plate to eat,” he says. “But my wife helps those elderly to see clearly what they eat after their treatment.”

He is extremely happy to support his wife in her activities. Nurbhanu on the other hand is grateful she is able to live up to her name!

Nurbhanu plans to train to become a vision technician. Once she has finished her training, she will work in a vision centre in West Bengal, examining patients, prescribing eye glasses and bringing light to those who would otherwise go needlessly blind.

We commend Nurbhanu for her unwavering commitment to eliminating avoidable blindness, and her part in our work! You can also read about Nurbhanu’s colleague, Rama.

The post Health worker brings light to her community appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

“In spite of her blindness, she never sits idle,” neighbours told us admiringly.

Deevanamma and her husband raised five children in the small Indian village of Ungamath. She always had problems with her vision, but was able to cope until her husband died. Then, she moved to Fatehnagar slum in the city of Hyderabad to live with her daughter Silvarani, her husband and their three other children.

Like many of us, Deevanamma started her day by attending to the household chores each morning after her family left for work or school. However, her vision steadily became worse until she was unable to do any housework at all.

A community health worker diagnosed Deevanamma with cataract, but she refused to visit a clinic for a check up or surgery. Deevanamma told the health worker, “I am blind due to old age. I am waiting to die and will die as I am.” Given her age and overall poor health, her family didn’t insist.

Soon she was totally blind and needed help to meet even her basic needs. Kind neighbours had to help the frail senior by carrying her to the toilet, washing area and so on. Life was grim for this poor lady.

Fortunately, Deevanamma’s life was about to change.  A community health worker named Saritha heard about the blind senior. Even though she was on vacation, Saritha made it a point to meet Deevanamma, and was able to convince her and her daughter that she should be examined at the local Operation Eyesight-sponsored vision centre.

Deevenamma was taken in her grandson’s auto-rickshaw (a three wheeler) to the vision centre, where she was diagnosed with bilateral cataract. She was referred to an Operation Eyesight partner hospital, Kishor Chand secondary level eye hospital, for further check up.

Her grandson helped her to the hospital, where she finally agreed to undergo cataract surgery for both eyes, one after another. I am happy to report that she regained her vision!

Today, Deevanamma laughs and says that now that she can see everything again, she is happy to perform her chores faster. She blesses Saritha for helping her. Her laughter brings smiles to the neighbourhood, including Saritha, who persistently followed up with her.

Community health workers like Saritha help direct vulnerable people to vision care services every day! Learn more about Operation Eyesight’s innovative community health worker program.

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