Clean Water and Avoidable Blindness

Access to clean water is an important part of ending serious eye infections like trachoma, the world’s leading cause of preventable blindness. Trachoma causes the eyelid to turn inward so that the eyelashes rub the eyeball. This results in intense pain, scarring of the cornea and ultimately, irreversible blindness. Although trachoma can be treated with medicine and, in more severe cases, surgery, the most effective way of reducing rates of this painful infection is to address one of the root causes, which is lack of adequate sanitation. With access to clean water, people can wash their hands, faces, clothing and homes and prevent the spread of trachoma. This improved sanitation also aids in the reduction of other serious illnesses such as diarrheal disease, upper-respiratory infections and other communicable diseases like COVID-19.

Drilling and Rehabilitating Boreholes

Operation Eyesight follows the World Health Organization-endorsed SAFE strategy for eliminating trachoma in areas of Kenya and Zambia. SAFE is a comprehensive treatment and prevention program that includes:

• Surgery to treat trichiasis (the painful late stage of the disease)
• Antibiotics to eliminate infection
• Face washing and hygiene education
• Environmental improvement including wells and latrines

Properly implemented, the SAFE strategy permanently eliminates trachoma. One of the key factors for achieving this is drilling or rehabilitating boreholes. In recent years, we’ve shifted our focus from drilling new boreholes to rehabilitating existing, dysfunctional boreholes. The cost-savings employed by this method allow us to reach many more communities.

When a borehole is drilled or rehabilitated, we establish local Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) committees. These committees are trained on how to maintain the borehole and ensure its longevity. Properly maintained boreholes can provide clean water for decades. The WASH committees also provide community health education sessions to help people improve their sanitation habits. They incorporate messages on facial cleanliness and environmental improvements such as the proper building of latrines. 

The Ripple Effect of Clean Water

Clean water does so much more than prevent blindness. Families are able to grow more nutritious food and easily water their livestock when water is easily accessible. This leads to a reduced prevalence of illnesses resulting from poor nutrition. It also gives women and girls more opportunities. The task of hauling fresh water for long distances most commonly falls to women and girls. Depending on the area, the journey can also be dangerous, and the water from unprotected sources may not be safe. When clean water is easily accessible, women and girls have time to go to school, earn a living independently, and be actively involved in their families and communities.

Communities with a clean water source also become hubs of local trade and provide increased economic opportunities. New schools are often built near boreholes because of their central location and easy access to water. Existing schools are expanded on to accommodate for the increase in attendance resulting from more girls being able to participate in school now that they don’t have to walk far distances to fetch water. Read this story about how a borehole increased the attendance at Mweela School by 274 students.

This World Water Day, you can help bring the positive ripple effects of clean water to a community in need. Please donate today.

The post The value of clean water – World Water Day 2021 appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

Clean water is essential for general health, eye health included. Without readily-available clean water, people can’t wash or sanitize, causing the spread of diseases.

In Zambia, there are still thousands of children, women and men who are suffering from the blinding disease, trachoma.

Trachoma is the world’s leading cause of preventable blindness. Caused by bacterial infection, it spreads easily through contact with eye discharge from infected people on hands, towels and clothing, and also through direct transmission by flies. Children are most susceptible to trachoma, and because of their role as primary caregivers, women are three times more likely than men to be blinded by the disease.

But there’s a solution! The SAFE strategy.

Thanks to your support, we’ll ramp up our efforts to implement the SAFE strategy to eliminate blinding trachoma in Zambia. SAFE stands for Surgery, Antibiotics, Face washing and hygiene education, and Environmental change.

Thanks to you, we’ll develop borehole programs in vulnerable communities in Zambia. Establishing each borehole program will include identifying a viable location; drilling the borehole; analyzing the water quality; training and equipping local villagers as pump minders; monitoring and evaluating the program; building the capacity of the village water committee; distributing antibiotics, and educating the community on eye health and general health.

By providing villages with fresh water, not only will you help improve sanitation and prevent the spread of trachoma and other disease, but you’ll also provide families with the means to grow crops and raise livestock. And by supporting our community outreach and eye health education programs, you’ll also help us identify those with eye problems and refer them for treatment.

In addition, the provision of fresh water assists in the development of education. Villages with fresh water attract teachers and, as children (especially girls) will no longer have to spend long hours walking to find water, they’ll be able to attend school. In the coming years, entire communities will be transformed, thanks to you!

What has our team in Zambia been up to so far this year?

Now that the rainy season has ended, we’re conducting needs assessments in Sinazongwe district and surrounding districts to identify communities at greatest risk of trachoma and to begin identifying viable drilling locations. We’re working with the Ministry of Local Government and Housing to determine the number of households and the total population that will benefit from the boreholes. Depending on the needs of the districts, we’ll select our target communities.

We’re also in discussions with the Department of Water Affairs to see if we can partner with them again. In the past, they’ve contributed to our borehole projects, allowing us to expand our work to additional communities.

We promote community buy-in right from the start. Once our target communities have been identified, we’ll engage with community members to ensure they take ownership of the project, and to collaboratively develop borehole programs based on the specific needs of each community.

With all our programs, our goal is to educate communities and empower them to take responsibility for their eye health needs. In doing so, we can create sustainable programs that communities will continue to benefit from, even after our formal partnership with them has ended. By investing in communities at the onset of the program, we can ensure that your generous gifts will be used in the best possible way!

Your support will help hundreds of thousands in Zambia, but there’s still more work to be done! Please help us continue the fight against avoidable blindness by giving a gift. Thank you for all your support — For All the World to See!

The post Together we’ll wash away blindness in Zambia! appeared first on Operation Eyesight.