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A Milestone in the Fight Against Blindness
***It is estimated that up to 20 million people in the world are made blind by cataract — many of them in Africa and Asia. Yet cataract blindness can be relatively easily cured. The problem is, as always, distribution of resources — getting help to those who can't afford it. Gemini News Service rejiorts on Sight Savers, a charity which has made it possible for three million people to see again, by Andrew Walker***
ON April 28. a 5O-year-old blind woman in Pakistan s North West Frontier province. made history of sorts.
Mrs Taj Bibi had been blind for a year When she walked away from the mobile hospital at Akora Khattak after an operation lasting Just 25 minutes, she had become the three-mll-1‘onth person to have their sight restored by the British charity. Sight Savers.
Mrs Bibi had a cataract In her left eye for two years and tn her right eye for a year. A widow, she was completely incapacitated. unable to look after her two sons and the other family members living with her or go out of the house unaccompanied.
Then she heard about a new free eye hospital at Akora Khattak. about 25 kilometres away When an elderly villager returned home after having his sight restored there she made up her mind that she. too, would go.
After the operation Mrs Bibi put on spectacles, and was immediately able to identify her father and sister, who were standing round the bed. She saw her surgeon. Dr. Arifa Ghulab — and prayed that Allah grant her 10 sons
Mrs Bibi was one of an estimated 17 to 20 million people In the world made blind by a cataract, which causes the ten* in the eye to become opaque The condition is responsible for approximately half of all blindness in Africa and Asia, and particularly affects people aged over 50.
It can be treated with a rel-attvely simply operation, which costs as little as *14 in developing countries. But there are too few resources to cope with the sheer number* of people needing treatment. In Africa south of the Sahara, for exam
pie. there is one ophthalmologist for every million people: in Britain there is one for every 20.000
It is problems like that
which are being tackled by or ganisations such as Sight Savers, part of the Royal Commonwealth Society .for the Blind Dr. Arifa Ghulab. who
performed the operation on Mrs Taj Bibi, is an ophthalmol ogist who was sponsored by the charity for specialised training tn Britain in commu
nlty ophthalmology
In Uganda. Sight Savers to working with the government to train ophthalmic clinical of ficer*. paramedics who will provide medical and minor surgical care to people with eye problems In rural area*, referring more complex cases to hospital
In India it has pioneered a new concept in eye care at very little cost. The problem Is • that hospitals are not being' u*ed during the hot season from April to June, nor In the monsoon season which follow*, because they are not properly equipped to deal with the conditions By upgrading facilities. for example, providing air conditioning tn operating the atres and fans in the wards. Sight Savers has begun to make It possible for the facih ties to be used all year round.
In hospitals where this has been done the number of pa tlents treated has shot up. In one hospital in Delhi. 312 people were operated on tn April last year compared with an average of 80 tn the same month of the previous two years.
Even tn July- when heavy rains and floods disrupted roads for days, there were more than twice as many oper atlons as before — 98 as opposed to 41.
Sight Savers, which has been in operation for 40 years, works tn collaboration with national governments and local partner organisations to bring eye care services to as many people as possible. It builds and helps to support permanent eye units and funds mobile units and eye camps which reach out to remote rural areas and promote education about eye health
A few of its projects are Jointly funded by the British Overseas Development Administration or the European Community, but nearly all Its money comes from public donation in Britain.
Poverty is at the root of the main blinding diseases in the developing world, which apart from cataract include trachoma and childhood blindness. and Sight Savers' latest campaign. "Please don't turn a blind eye." is committed to reaching these people.
Trachoma is associated with overcrowded and unhygienic living conditions, particularly a lack of clean water. Childhood blindness could be greatly reduced by immunisation aghinst measles and correct diet, particularly in fresh vegetables containing Vitamin A.
Sight Savers now works in over 40 countries, with the1 bulk of Its efforts in Africa and South Asia. Its constitution was revised in 1990 to enable to work in countries outside the Commonwealth and it has already begun operations in French-speaking West Africa against river blindness.
Not all blindness c^p be prevented or cured, and for those who cannot regain their vision Sight Savers helps them overcome their disability while still living in their own communities. It is also working with education authorities to enable blind children 'to study in ordinary schools alongside sighted children, instead of being sent to institutions away from their families and friends. It provides braille mathematics kits and braille textbooks.
In the words of Kerrie-Anne [fill, the first blind girl on the Caribbean Island of Barbados to attend an ordinary school: "I can now look forward to having a profession. I can use my brain, which was something I always wanted to do. Before, blind people were looked at only as singers and craft mak ers. Now we are looked at as children with brains and intel llgence."
— GEMINI NEWS