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!

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In those days, Operation Eyesight focused mainly on people with cataracts. Cataract surgery is still an important part of our work because cataract remains the world’s leading cause of avoidable blindness. In fact, more than half of the world’s blind people are blind because of cataract.

For a child, being blind means she can’t go to school – and education is the ticket to a better life in the developing world. Blindness for an older person means that he is totally dependent on family for even the simplest things like food and finding his way to the outhouse. In the developing world, a blind woman may be outcast, abandoned by family because she is seen as a burden.

As the countries in which we work develop functional health care systems, hospitals become more efficient and can meet international standards. And strengthening the health care systems is the best strategy to deal with the backlog of cataract cases.

When you donate for a cataract surgery, you’re not only giving a person in Africa or India the gift of sight, but you’re also contributing to the operating costs of that hospital until that hospital is self-sufficient and can cover these costs themselves.

Subsidizing operating costs is important for new partners in India, and for partners in Africa where achieving self-sufficiency is a longer process.

Ultimately, a more efficient, productive hospital means that it will eventually be able to fund the surgeries and other necessary costs itself. That is Operation Eyesight’s goal – strong hospitals and health systems that can operate successfully without any outside intervention. Most importantly, it gets us closer to a world free of avoidable blindness.

The post The gift of sight – and much, much more appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

Take, for example, Alana Thorburn-Watt and Levente Kovacs. These two fourth-year students from the Alberta College of Art and Design (ACAD) have a deep interest in the people of the developing world, especially those with special challenges like vision impairment.

We met Alana and Levente through a very interesting project – our need to express the central issues around global blindness in a fresh but effective way, which led to a form of storytelling we had never explored before. We needed something for our website that would grab viewers and quickly explain the urgency behind avoidable blindness, in terms that everyone can understand.

Levente and Alana learned about our communications challenge through ACAD’s Student Resource Centre blog. They, in turn, wanted to contribute their expertise to making a difference in the world, as well as expanding their portfolio to different kinds of projects.

What followed was a series of successful meetings and a true merging of creative possibilities with organizational objectives. Alana’s and Levente’s skill with digital animation and storytelling gave life to the central message that millions of people can’t see things that you and I take for granted – and we can all do something about it, right now.

The result of our collaboration was a two-minute animated video called “See This.” We feature it front and centre on a very different kind of home page, launched on World Sight Day (October 13, 2011). Have a look! What do you think of our project? We’d appreciate your feedback!

We believe the video meets all our objectives, and are very pleased with the outcome, and we really enjoyed working with these talented young people. I’ll close with Alana’s words, which I hope will strike a chord with our other supporters – people like you.

“Be open-minded to different causes. Look around and see the good things people are doing in your community and around the world. You never know what will touch your heart and resonate with you.”

The post Fresh eyes tackle animation challenge appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

These are the words of Kashinath Bhoosnurmath, Operation Eyesight’s senior director for India, speaking about our donors. Kashinath is passionate about the poor and blind of India, and enthusiastic about the progress being made. “Dhanyawaad” means thank you in Hindi, one of a number of languages he speaks.

Kashinath’s work coordinating all of Operation Eyesight’s work in India brings him into contact with health experts and high-level officials, as well as the very poorest of the poor. While at our world headquarters in Calgary last week, we asked him what things make the biggest difference in the quest to eliminate avoidable blindness. He identified philanthropy – people outside of India willing to share their resources with people in serious need. It’s true that none of Operation Eyesight’s work in India or Africa could happen without the financial support of generous donors.

The needs in India are many, but here are some we can respond to right now: eyeglasses for children, surgery for cataract patients, or bicycles for traveling community workers. Our new Gift Guide is ready for the holiday season – you can request a printed copy or order online. Take a moment now to view the options and see how you can give a gift that gives twice.

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