Right to Sight Norge
Who we are
Right to Sight is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to help eradicate all forms of curable blindness. The organization is affiliated with the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and was established by eye surgeon Kate Coleman in 2006.
Right to Sight was created as a result of the WHO’s plan to eradicate treatable blindness by 2020.
The organization has had a particular focus on the African continent.
Our vision is to eradicate all needless blindness, i.e., blindness that is treatable, on the African continent. Through the transfer of expertise and new technology, we support African ophthalmologists who wish to remain in Africa to build high-quality eye health services.
Right to Sight Norge
The Right to Sight foundation was established in the autumn of 2011 as a sister organization to Right to Sight.
The non-profit organization is run by doctors and ophthalmologists with the same goal. We work to eradicate needless blindness in Africa, including through training and education of ophthalmologists, support for operations, and the establishment of clinics.
Right to Sight Norge – stiftelsesdokument
Right to Sight Norge – organisasjonsnummer: 997 472 306
Right to Sight is founded by Dr. Kate Coleman.
Right to Sight Norge is founded by Dr. Trine Jacobsen in Oslo, Norway.
We establish a partnership with Dr. Dan Kiage, medical director of Innovation Eye Centre in Kisii.
In 2017, we partner with Dr. Helen Roberts and Kwale Eye Centre in Mombasa.
Our work
Kenya faces a growing eye health crisis, exacerbated by its rapidly expanding population. An estimated 7 million people (12% of the population) suffer from vision impairment severe enough to hinder daily life, including 1.2 million children and youth under 18.
The development of eye health services and the training of qualified personnel have not kept pace with this population growth. Kenya has only 100-120 practicing ophthalmologists (approximately 2 per million inhabitants), along with just 6 opticians and 8 Ophthalmic Clinical Officers (OCOs) per million (source: International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness – IAPB). Pediatric eye care services are particularly scarce. Only eight ophthalmologists in the entire country are qualified to perform eye surgery on children. Furthermore, there are no specialized training programs for OCOs or opticians in pediatric eye care.
Kenya’s eye health crisis faces two major obstacles: the health issues themselves and the lack of money to address them. Many, especially children, cannot afford treatment due to widespread poverty. Childhood blindness or visual impairment severely restricts access to education and future opportunities.
Right to Sight supports the education and training of local eye health personnel to increase treatment availability in Kenya. We have collaborated with various eye clinics since our inception. Currently, we have several projects with Kwale Eye Centre, which is located near Mombasa, the second-largest city in Kenya.
You can read more about Dr. Helen Roberts and Kwale Eye Centre here.
One project is to train and educate eye surgeons who can perform cataract surgery with a cost-effective technique called Small Incision Cataract Surgery (SICS). Cataracts are the most common cause of preventable blindness and affect across generations.
We find patients through outreach, the impoverished receive free surgery while simultaneously training a candidate, who can operate independently after about 100 supervised surgeries.
This has resulted in nearly 60 new cataract surgeons who can operate on adults. We also support a mentoring program that follows up with the eye surgeons afterward.
Outreach consists of mobile eye clinics. Right to Sight funds 8 per month, 4 are earmarked to find children and young people, including at schools. Each year, 6000 people are examined through outreach. 50-70% are treated for various eye conditions on-site or referred to the eye clinic.
Another project is to train midwives and nurses in eye screening of newborns and young children so that they can detect eye diseases and see abnormalities early. Eye examinations of children before school age are not routine at hospitals and health centers in Kenya, so many diseases are not detected in time.
The project also includes information meetings with mothers about eye health and what signs of vision problems they should be aware of in their children. The project aims to address and prevent the high (and increasing) level of eye diseases in the younger population.
In 2020, we end our partnership with Kisii, as the clinic is now fully equipped to continue independently.
Bag-in-the-Lens, a revolutionary new surgical technique, is introduced at Kwale Eye Centre.
In collaboration with Kwale Eye Centre, Right to Sight is establishing a center of expertise for children's eye health.
In Norway, screening for eye diseases is standard from birth and mandatory during visits to health clinics. Since 90% of all children are born in hospitals in Kenya and are followed up by community health nurses, including for vaccinations, this project helps build a safety net from the very beginning of a child’s life, catching those who need treatment so they can have a normal-sighted life, the opportunity for education, and a long working life.
The project has been very successful, resulting in a significant increase in the number of children coming to Kwale Eye Centre. In 2024, the clinic treated 7,000 children.
A brand-new project is the establishment of a Centre of Excellence for children and youths at Kwale Eye Centre.
This center of expertise is the first of its kind in Kenya and is unique because its primary focus is training in new, advanced techniques that are not yet standard in the country. Having more highly qualified practitioners in a country where they are scarce is a sound investment in ensuring better eye health for the younger population. The center of expertise will offer all types of treatment for children and young people, along with continuing education for healthcare professionals.
Right to Sight has also had a project teaching the treatment of diabetic retinopathy in Kisii, and we had a Friends’ Association that funded (2016-2024) high school for 30 blind and visually impaired youths.
Educating and providing further training for Kenya’s own healthcare workers is the only way to increase and expand a sustainable treatment offer in the country and, in the long term, eradicate needless blindness and visual impairment.
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