When you can’t see clearly, learning to read becomes a challenge beyond a child’s ability. And when your family is so desperately poor you can’t afford food, purchasing eyeglasses becomes an impossibility.

That’s where our kind-hearted donors make such a difference! Our supporters share our ongoing concern about children like Paul Omari who have vision deficiencies.

Paul is a seven-year-old boy who lives with his father in rural Kenya. Paul never could see well, so his father never sent him to school. One day, life changed!

Teacher Ben Simiyu saw Paul walking slowly along a road and recognized that the boy had a problem seeing clearly. He encouraged Paul to attend school, but the child became frustrated when he was unable to read the board and had to hold a book right up to his eyes.

After talking to Paul’s father, Ben took the boy to Operation Eyesight partner Kitale District Hospital, 40 km away. Paul was examined and received eyeglasses at no cost, thanks to our loyal and compassionate donors!

Today he attends school regularly and can clearly read the board. Paul and his teacher Ben are grateful to Operation Eyesight’s generous donors who helped him receive eyeglasses. Thank you!

Every $20 you donate can purchase new, custom-fitted prescription eyeglasses for more children like Paul. Learn more about how you can help by visiting our website here.

The post A child can finally see to read! appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

Tackling childhood blindness and visual impairment in low-income countries presents considerable challenges. Infrastructure and human resources are seriously lacking, and systems for accurately testing children for eye conditions and improving follow-up rates are often non-existent or inadequate.

If there was a way to improve the way that children’s eyesight is screened and treated across low-income countries, could the fight against eliminating avoidable blindness for good be a step closer?

A new grant to Operation Eyesight from Standard Chartered Bank’s Seeing is Believing program could pave the way for an effective approach to screening millions of children with vision problems. We have funded a pilot project in Kenya that could revolutionize the way children’s eyes are tested, using the recently launched Portable Eye Examination Kit (Peek) smartphone app.

Watch the video here

Researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine worked with ophthalmologist Hillary Rono at Kitale District Hospital in Kenya to run the school-based project. Once finished, we will be able to evaluate if the Peek app can be used effectively by teachers to test children’s vision and improve detection for those with sight problems.

In Kenya, few schools have a school screening program available. The team hopes the device will be as accurate in the hands of teachers as by specialists using traditional hospital-based tests.

The connectivity of Peek enables data to be instantly loaded up onto a dedicated cloud system, and the results immediately accessed by hospital staff, saving a significant administrative burden for teachers and allowing for referrals to be made more swiftly. It also allows teachers and doctors to check on those who have not come for treatment. Hospitals will be able to let teachers know by text message whether a child needs to come in.

The possibilities for this innovative app are huge! As Dr Rono says, “We are extremely excited by this project and grateful to Seeing is Believing for this innovation grant. Ever since the Peek team launched their impressive app, we saw that it could really make a difference to the problem of screening at schools. It will help increase the detection rates of children with poor vision, hopefully helping them realise their educational potential.”

Operation Eyesight would like to thank Seeing is Believing, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) for their funding and support with this innovative project!

The post Smart phone app developed to screen for vision problems appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

Carolyn achieved her childhood dream with the help of funding from Operation Eyesight.

“I’m a project!” she says, smiling. “I’m very grateful to you. Operation Eyesight is wonderful; you help a lot of people.”

Not far away in the village of Iten, ophthalmic clinical officer and cataract surgeon Agnes Maiyo repeats Carolyn’s thanks. “We really appreciate the support from Operation Eyesight! I did my training through your organization, and now I’m a cataract surgeon. I’m proud of my training; it changed my life.”

Further to the north in Kitale district, Judith Boiyo is a trained community health worker, identifying patients who need eye care and accompanying them to Kitale Hospital.

Judith told me, “People say there’s no need to help old women. Old age is their only problem. I tell them everyone should be helped. I chose this work because people don’t know how to manage their health, and it means a lot to me to help them. I’m happy and I like what I do.”

Like many other eye health care professionals throughout Africa and India, Carolyn, Agnes and Judith received training thanks to generous donations from Operation Eyesight supporters. Now they possess the skills, knowledge and motivation to help care for the eye health of their entire communities.

Just imagine how the impact of our donors’ original gifts has grown!

Not only does Operation Eyesight fund leading-edge training for community workers, cataract surgeons and ophthalmic nurses, we train vision care technicians, optometrists and highly skilled ophthalmologists. Won’t you help other people in India and Africa achieve a meaningful profession that can help save the eyesight of thousands of others? Visit our online Gift Guide today to buy your gift of training for eye care professionals!

The post For health workers, training is a dream come true appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

When I was at Kitale Eye Unit, I met Bernard Simiyu, a 61-year old local man who had been a community health worker for four years. He regularly walked great distances, covering a large district of about 50 rural homesteads and checking in with families to identify eye injuries, cataracts and refractive error (the need for prescription eyeglasses), among other medical conditions.

“Bernard and our other community health workers help identify patients for us. We hope to get bicycles to help them in their work,” said Dr. Hillary Rono, referring to the large districts the frontline workers canvass on foot.

Rono, the ophthalmologist at the eye unit, told me that Bernard was one of 32 community health workers in the Greater Trans-Nzoia District. The Ministry of Health trains the workers with support from Operation Eyesight and other NGOs.

If patients don’t live too far from the hospital, the frontline workers can literally lead them to the eye unit, or can use their hospital-sponsored mobile phones to call and arrange for a doctor or clinical officer to visit the rural area.

Bernard himself had been blind from cataracts, and was operated on five years earlier at another Operation Eyesight-supported eye unit at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital. His son knew where the Kitale hospital was, and was able to escort him there, so Bernard appreciates the importance of having someone knowledgeable accompany a patient.

He told me, “When you are blind, it’s like being in a hole. You cannot see what’s going on. I was feeling painful when I wasn’t whole, so I decided to help other people to see. Eyes are so important.”

Would you like to help frontline workers like Janice and Bernard? Your gift can help train community health workers in Africa.

The post Frontline workers reach remote patients in Africa (Part 2 of 2) appeared first on Operation Eyesight.