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.

Last year, a valued donor and friend to Operation Eyesight initiated a “Washing Away Blindness” campaign to bring fresh, clean water to communities in Zambia. Our Board Chair, Rob Ohlson, generously offered to match all donations made to the campaign in 2016.

Realizing the remarkable opportunity to double their donation and be part of a long-term solution to prevent blindness, those who were contacted tried to make the most generous gift they could. The result? An incredible $485,000 was raised!

These funds will be used to develop well programs in 24 of some of Zambia’s most vulnerable communities. By providing people with clean water for washing their hands and faces, we’ll help prevent the spread of trachoma, a bacterial eye infection which eventually leads to irreversible blindness.

Operation Eyesight is the only organization in all of Zambia implementing the full SAFE strategy to eliminate trachoma. SAFE was developed by the World Health Organization and stands for Surgery, Antibiotics, Face-washing and hygiene education, and Environmental improvement, including wells and boreholes.

Operation Eyesight’s well programs are so much more than simply drilling a hole in the ground. Establishing each well program includes identifying a viable location; drilling the borehole; analyzing the water quality; training and equipping local villagers as pump minders; monitoring and evaluating the program; mobilizing the community and building the capacity of the village water committee; distributing antibiotics; and educating the community on eye health and general health.

Each well developed through our “Washing Away Blindness” campaign will serve approximately 400 people, which means 9,600 people will receive access to safe, clean water – and each well will create a ripple effect for generations to come! Not only will the provision of fresh water and hygiene education help prevent blinding trachoma, but it will also provide other important benefits. (See the photos below for more information.)

We’d like to thank Rob and all of our donors for their incredible support. Thanks to you, we’re one step closer to washing away blindness in Zambia!

While our “Washing Away Blindness” campaign may be over, our work to fight blinding trachoma is ongoing. Please consider donating to our trachoma surgery program at operationeyesight.com/trachoma. Thank you for your support, and Happy World Water Day!

The post World Water Day: Washing away blindness in Zambia! appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

About five years ago Operation Eyesight realized that treatment and surgery alone were not going to win the battle to eliminate unnecessary blindness. Indeed the evidence was that a good deal of blindness could be prevented if we were prepared to think broadly about the root causes of unnecessary blindness.

We looked at what defined poverty and what were those elements of poverty that were directly linked to blindness. Actually, there are several, but there is one in particular – a nasty eye disease called trachoma that is the direct result of poor sanitation and, critically, the lack of clean water. We had been treating patients for trachoma in endemic areas in Africa for more than 20 years. Treatment included lid surgery to correct eyelids so disfigured that the eyelashes turn in and scrape the cornea, as well as antibiotic ointment to stop the bacteria. But repeatedly, the infections returned.

Operation Eyesight made a bold decision to change tactics and provide clean water to dry communities by providing “water points” – that is, water catchment devices and boreholes. This is a more expensive strategy on the front end but, by far, more effective and less costly, even in the midterm. Face washing is the key to keeping the bacteria away from the eyes and preventing infections. Today, our surveys in affected communities are proving that infections are decreasing dramatically and, one day soon, trachoma will be a thing of the past.

Just as gratifying are the other dramatic changes that water is bringing to previously dry communities. It truly is the first rung on the development ladder. Women are no longer making long treks to bring water back to their families – they have the time and the means to keep themselves and their families clean. Clean clothes and bodies reduce the incidence of skin and respiratory diseases. Communities are taking the initiative to plant gardens and feed starving children from communities hit by drought. They are also investigating new crops and making plans to pipe water to dry communities.

Water in a community means teachers will be willing to move there and offer education to the children for the first time. Some communities have even constructed large boarding facilities so children from other villages can benefit as well. Water in a dry community is like planting seeds in fertile soil. The community flourishes. It brings new life and opportunity. Social and economic development takes hold. Women are able to play a key role in the sustainability of the water resources and are central to the planning of community initiatives.

It’s achievements like this that World Water Day celebrates. Thanks for supporting Operation Eyesight’s efforts to bring eye health to people who lack it just because they don’t have ample water.

The post What’s the big deal about water? appeared first on Operation Eyesight.