Preventative Care
Childhood blindness poses a major problem in Kenya, and it is on the rise due to the country’s large population under the age of 15. Kenya has not yet implemented national measures to detect and treat eye conditions in children.
Eye health services are also limited, especially in rural areas where the population lives sparsely and in poverty. Childhood blindness causes high mortality rates in children under 5, and a blind child has few chances to receive education and contribute to society. The causes of childhood blindness and visual impairment are congenital cataracts, various eye injuries, and other untreated eye diseases.
In collaboration with Kwale Eye Centre in the Mombasa district, Right to Sight has initiated a project to train midwives and nurses in screening newborns and young children for eye conditions:
- This screening is not routine at maternity clinics and health centers. We equip healthcare personnel with screening instruments, gather them into training groups, and produce informational materials.
- Children who need treatment or surgery receive it at the clinic. Children with special needs receive glasses and further follow-up care.
- During the treatment of children, training is always ongoing to ensure that expertise is transferred to new colleagues. This knowledge transfer is essential for ensuring sustainable eye health services.
- The project also includes teaching mothers how to look for signs that their children may have eye conditions. Information and training are provided to women in maternity wards, at infant check-ups, and through outreach activities.
Approximately 25,000 children are born in the Mombasa district each year, with 90% in hospitals. To find and examine children who are not born in hospitals, Right to Sight funds two outreach camps per month with a dedicated field coordinator.
The project is supported by the AKO Foundation and was started in 2019. The project is successful and has support from local authorities and hospitals. We are now seeing a significant increase in the number of children referred from hospitals and health centers.
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