We recruit and train health workers and volunteers from the community, who provide vision screening, referral, health assessments and health education.

Across South Asia and Africa, these local eye health champions also reached nearly 800,000 people with education sessions about key health issues, like child and maternal health.

After Sonam’s mother received sight-restoring cataract surgery at one of our partner hospitals, she was inspired by the impact it had on her entire family.

“My mother’s surgery helped me experience the impact avoidable blindness can have on a family,” she says. “I was impressed by her visual outcome. I got free of my duties towards my mom and took up new responsibilities.”

In addition to now being able to work in the pasture and feed cattle, Sonam has been trained as a community health worker and joined our India project team.

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For Salina, what makes her work doing door-to-door screenings rewarding is the appreciation of patients and families in her community.

“Working as a community health volunteer makes me interact with the community, who appreciate the help they get through the door-to-door screening program,” she explains.

Learn more in our 2021 Annual Report at operationeyesight.com/annualreport2021/.

The post Meet our people: Community health workers and volunteers appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

“It’s a dream come true,” she smiles.

Growing up, Joana remembers her grandmother going blind but not seeking treatment because blindness was believed to be caused by spirits.

“If they knew about eye services, they wouldn’t have gone blind,” she says.

Now in her final year at the Ophthalmic Nursing School in Korle-Bu, Accra, Joana says she is most excited that her presence in her community will have an impact on the health and quality of life of her neighbours as well as Ghana’s health system.

“Becoming an ophthalmic nurse will help improve the state of human resources for eye health in Ghana, especially in my district of Awutu Senya, where the need for eye health services is very high,” Joana explains. “The people at the community level will have quality eye care services at their doorsteps.”

Joana says that after her schooling she will return to her district and provide eye health care in her own community.

“They are expecting much from me, because in the whole district there is no eye nurse and there is no clinic apart from Watborg Eye Services.”

Her school, Ghana’s only institute of its kind, recently upgraded from providing diplomas to awarding academic degrees, thanks to Operation Eyesight in partnership with the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness. It’s a step up for Joana and her whole community.

“This will enhance my career in the health service,” Joana adds. “I’m extremely grateful to Operation Eyesight for funding my studies.”

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The post Meet our people: Joana Annobil appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

“I have seen people who never expected to see again, because eye care services were far out of reach, not affordable and not accessible. They waited for their death,” explains Bitul Hazarika, a paramedical ophthalmic assistant with one of our partner hospitals.

“But when we reach them…with services and care to see again, I feel satisfaction of seeing these people smiling and thanking us for the services.”

Bitul has been working in the field since 1996. In addition to working in a vision centre, over his 26 years of service he has attended more than 500 screening camps, provided prescription eyeglasses to 700+ people and referred more than 300 patients for surgery.

Today, he’s working to make his home state of Arunachal Pradesh completely free of avoidable blindness.

Learn more about what we did in 2021 in our Annual Report by visiting operationeyesight.com/annualreport2021/.

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“2021 was a blessed year for us. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, our work in serving the community continued from the support we received from Operation Eyesight,” Samson says.

“We started the year with school screening that saw an influx of workload at the eye unit. Our patients had their eyesight restored courtesy of consumables and spectacles we received from Operation Eyesight. When our patients are happy, we are also happy.”  

Learn more about the impact we had in 2021, together, at operationeyesight.com/annualreport2021/.

The post Meet our people: Samson Keitany appeared first on Operation Eyesight.