When she was forced to put away her needle and thread due to poor eyesight, Meleniah thought her heart might break. She says she felt a lot of stress when she could no longer see to thread a needle, but she didn’t tell anyone about her eye problems because she worried one of her family members would quit work to take care of her. Besides, she figured her poor vision was simply a result of old age.

Eventually, Meleniah’s husband, having previously undergone cataract surgery himself, realized what was going on. He invited one of their granddaughters into the home to help with cooking and housework.

When a community health promoter arrived on their doorstep in January, Meleniah was assessed and told she too had cataracts. They referred her to our partner, the Iten County Referral Hospital, where she was diagnosed and underwent cataract surgery on both eyes. The treatment was provided free of charge, as had her husband’s operations, thanks to the generosity of our donors.

Meleniah recovered quickly, and soon she was back at it – beading late into the night, thrilled she could do the delicate needlework once again.

When Meleniah’s village was declared as Avoidable-Blindness Free, she was there to tell her story and to encourage everyone to seek treatment when they have eye problems.

Always the saleswoman, Meleniah had another motivation for speaking out that day. She brought along some of her fancy work and set up a table, happily selling her beaded gourds, bracelets, necklaces and keychains to neighbours attending the event.

Meleniah is grateful to donors like you for helping to bring the joy of beading back into her life!

The post Sharing her love of bead work appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

It was made possible through partnership between Operation Eyesight and Kenya’s National Ministry of Health and the County Government of Elgeyo Marakwet.  

It shows what’s possible through partnership with governments and health systems in Kenya and our other countries of work.  

Our President & CEO, Kashinath (Kash) Bhoosnurmath, was recently in Kenya to attend the facility’s grand opening. He had a chance to sit down with Elgeyo-Marakwet’s Governor, the Honourable Mr. Wisley Rotich to talk about what the facility means for patients and families.  

Kash: What impact is the Iten Eye Unit having in the lives of residents?  

Governor: Before Operation Eyesight constructed the Iten Eye Unit in 2021, community members had to travel more than 300 km to access eye care services. This presented a significant barrier to accessing care, particularly for children and families facing economic hardship. A child with an untreated eye condition cannot thrive, and it is worse when their eye problem is a genetic condition or when the entire family has eye problems.  

Today, thanks to the generosity of donors, eye health care is available right here in the community. The new operation theatre at the eye unit means more patients than ever before have access to sight-restoring eye surgery, closer to home.  

Kash: This year, Operation Eyesight is celebrating its 60^th anniversary. We’re thriving because of the generosity of donors and the support of partners like Kenya’s Ministry of Health. What role do donors play in helping make advanced eye care accessible to communities? 

Governor: We sincerely thank Operation Eyesight and its donors for their support financing the development of the operation theatre. It is the start of a new chapter for the community. 

Thanks to donor support, we are also able to purchase other equipment, like an eyeglass edger, which will help staff provide eyeglasses to patients and families in the community at a low cost. For many patients with vision impairment due to refractive error, having the right pair of prescription eyeglasses can be life changing. Sadly, the cost of prescription eyeglasses has in the past been a barrier for many patients. This new equipment will change all that.   

Together, we are bringing more than eye care to our people; we are bringing dignity. For many children, quality vision care means the ability to read, receive an education and end the cycle of poverty.   

Because of Operation Eyesight’s work, life will not be the same in our community. We appreciate the donors worldwide who support us. For generations and generations, it will be known that Operation Eyesight supported us.  

Kash: What role does partnership play in making eye health care accessible in Kenya? 

Governor: Partnership between Operation Eyesight and Kenya’s government means that your team’s impact will be sustainable in the long-term.   

The county government will sustain what Operation Eyesight has set in motion, because revenues generated by the eye unit will be re-invested to support screening and outreaches, and eventually we aim to declare all villages in Elgeyo-Marakwet County as Avoidable Blindness-Free.  

My government has mobilized resources for medical camps in the community where people are diagnosed and treated early.  Additionally, we are planning to fully equip Iten County Referral Hospital with diagnostic equipment, stock medical supplies and, most importantly, we are ensuring there is a timely supply of consumables and medicines. I would like to automate Kenya’s Health Management Information System to manage this; it’s an area we are seeking support from our partners.  

With the help of partners like Operation Eyesight, we are improving the lives of people living in Elgeyo-Marakwet County.  

Kash: What’s your vision for eye health in Kenya? 

Governor: I grew up in a village and I have first-hand experience of poverty and its effect on people’s health. I have seen families depleting all their savings due to medical bills. My vision as the Governor is to address poverty and increase access to health. As an economist, I want to reduce unnecessary suffering, unnecessary costs due to medical bills and promote income from agriculture. I would like to increase the number of health centres and develop 20 modern health facilities in the county and improve the quality of health services. This will help reduce poverty levels and eventually eradicate poverty.  

When I was previously Deputy Governor, and now in my current role as Governor, I have witnessed Operation Eyesight’s work in Kenya and its impact in communities across the country.  

Our vision is to screen all people in the county for eye health conditions and eventually declare every village in Elgeyo-Marakwet as Avoidable Blindness-Free, that is free of undiagnosed and untreated vision loss.  

Kash: What’s next for eye health in the community? 

Governor: Eye health starts in the community, before a patient shows up in a clinic or hospital. We know that eye health doesn’t happen in isolation but is connected to a range of other determinants of health. That’s why I want to equip Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) to conduct even more eye health screenings at the community level and improve maternal and child health services.  

We are lucky that some of our CHVs have been trained to conduct eye screening. We will continue working with them to scale up eye care services. Primary health care workers and eye unit teams have also been trained in primary eye care by Operation Eyesight and will help to screen people at the community level.  

We are using an “adopt a village model,” where a village will be financially supported by well-wishers in an area. CHVs working in the community will help us to access more patients and embrace innovation to provide door-to-door screening services in the community. 

The County now has a Memorandum of Understanding with Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital that helps to check quality of services at the hospital, and with Moi University that supports in training health workers.  

In many ways, our work is just beginning. However, I am confident that together we can build on our success to date and continue to transform communities through the gift of sight.  

To learn more about the new operating theatre at the Eye Unit Unit, click here. To learn more about our work in Kenya, visit this page.  

The post Q&A with Governor of Elgeyo-Marakwet County, Kenya  appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

What sets this community apart? It is the first village in the country we declared Avoidable Blindness-Free.

The December 2022 declaration event was several years in the making and is the product of collaboration between the community, the local government and our partner, Saltpond Government Hospital.

“Avoidable Blindness-Free means that the village is free of untreated vision loss,” explains Emmanuel Kumah, our country director for Ghana. “It also means that people in the community know where to receive care. This is important in communities like Asafora, where there has historically been resistance to receiving eye care.”

Our partnership with Asafora began in 2017 with primary eye care training for 10 local community health nurses. This team conducted door-to-door surveys to identify people with eye conditions, distributed vitamin A supplements and provided basic immunizations. Patients with cataract and other eye conditions were referred to the hospital for treatment.

We conducted a second door-to-door screening in 2021 to see how patients were doing and discovered several patients had refused care.

“We realized there was a lot of resistance to receiving eye care within the community, due to misconceptions about surgery,” Emmanuel explains. “We had to double down on our efforts to educate the community and inspire behavioural change.”

Community health nurses were deployed. They knocked on doors and attended churches, mosques, and child and newborn care sessions where they provided eye health education. Creating awareness and encouraging people to seek eye care helps ensure a village becomes, and stays, Avoidable Blindness-Free.

The declaration event was a landmark for public health in Ghana, and Asafora is the first of many rural villages to be declared Avoidable Blindness-Free in the country.

The post Sustainable impact through community partnership appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

But she isn’t complaining. The cause of all this busyness was one to celebrate. Between October and the end of December of last year, 20 villages in the county were declared Avoidable Blindness-Free.

Far from being a mere formality, these declarations are the culmination of years of collaboration between the community, the local government and the partner hospital.

“In simple terms,” Caroline explains, “Avoidable Blindness-Free means that nobody in the village is suffering from blindness or visual impairment due to treatable and avoidable conditions, and the community is aware of where to get the services for new cases.”

Our approach

We call our approach the “Hospital-Based Community Eye Health Model.” It’s a mouthful, but essentially it means we facilitate door-to-door screening to communities in remote and underserved villages and make referrals to our partner hospitals where people can access treatment.

In Kenya, we work with community health volunteers who are trained in primary health care and provide health education and services at the village level throughout the county. We deliver additional training in eye health, and then the volunteers go door to door in our project area to screen community members for eye conditions.

As they screen, the volunteers make referrals to the partner hospital, the eye unit at the Iten County Referral Hospital, where people can get treatment, such as cataract surgery or a pair of eyeglasses, free of charge. A volunteer might return to the same household several times to make sure every member of the family has been screened.

The community health volunteers also encourage people identified with eye problems to attend outreach camps that are centrally located within the villages to make sure everyone has access to further screenings. From there, transport may be arranged for those needing treatment at the partner hospital.

Working with community leaders and health care workers, we make sure that the community is in support of the project and can take ownership of it. 

Health education

Another part of the community health volunteer’s role is providing education about health issues, often attending social meetings such as micro-savings groups called “chamas” to make sure they’re reaching people when it’s convenient for them.

Due to misconceptions about surgeries, not everyone jumps at the chance to get treatment, so the volunteers identify community members who have had success with their treatment to act as ambassadors. “So they tell them, ‘I was not able to see. I could not work. Now I’m back at my farm. I’m evidence that you can be treated and start your life again,’” explains Caroline.

Our programmers also conduct PACEH meetings – PACEH being an acronym for Participatory Approach to Community Eye Health. These meetings help our team understand the perception of the community on eye diseases, eye health providers and treatment received. They also identify misconceptions and address gaps in knowledge on eye health, and they ask community members if they know of anyone who might still be experiencing vision loss or blindness. Finally, they ensure community members know where and when to seek treatment so that they can take responsibility for their own eye health going forward.

Resurvey, validation & declaration

Community health volunteers conduct door-to-door surveys again towards the end of project duration to ensure that there are no backlog cases. During these screenings, ophthalmic workers screen at least 10 per cent of the population to see if the volunteers are accurate in their assessments and whether they need any refresher training.

After a village has gone through the resurvey process and we have determined that all those requiring treatment have received it and that the level of eye health awareness is high, the next step is a declaration event. The partner hospital works with community health volunteers and local government officials to arrange a time and date for a village celebration, and they often erect a billboard to mark the achievement.

During the declaration, beneficiaries speak about how their restored sight has changed their lives. Caroline recalls one older woman who had never seen her two grandchildren due to cataracts. After surgery, the grandmother laid eyes on the children for the first time and cried with joy.

“Everyone is happy because they can see their hard work paying off,” says Caroline of the declaration events. “They are proud of themselves because it’s a milestone that we have achieved together.”

Sustainability

Caroline explains that the idea behind eye health education is to change behaviour, so that the community members take charge, prioritize their own eye health and seek treatment when necessary, without anyone having to remind them. By constructing and equipping the eye units and training ophthalmic workers, we ensure the community will continue to have access to treatment for years to come.

Operation Eyesight Universal is committed to working toward the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, which are a universal call to action to create a more fair, just and equitable world ensuring no one is left behind. Sign up for our eNews to learn more about how we are working to end poverty, promote good health and well-being, increase gender equality, provide access to clean water and promote partnerships to achieve the goals.

The post 20 new villages declared Avoidable Blindness-Free in Kenya appeared first on Operation Eyesight.