In English | Right to Sight Norge

Preventable blindness is a huge problem

Worldwide more than 1 billion people suffer from needless blindness or low vision. An estimated 800 million of these people only need glasses. Cataract is the most common eye disorder causing preventable blindness, accounting for more than 40 % of all cases. Disproportionately younger working-age individuals and even children often get cataract in developing countries. Loss of sight from cataract therefore leads to unemployment and an inability to escape poverty. Moreover, children that are affected need to be operated before the age of 6 to prevent permanent visual impairment and life-long disability.

Kenya is a unique country in Africa due to its demographics, with over 80% of the population being 35 years or younger. Kenya’s national strategy plan estimates that 15,5% of its population of 53 million people will need qualified eyecare services leading up to 2025. However, Kenya currently only has 2 trained eye doctors (ophthalmologists) per 1 million residents, with 80 % located in the Nairobi area. Moreover, only 800 cataract operations are performed per 1 million residents, well short of the 3000 suggested by the United Nations in its “Vision 2020” initiative. The key problem for Kenya is therefore a severe lack of training opportunities for eyecare professionals to prevent needless blindness in its youthful population.

Right to Sight projects in Kenya

Right to Sight has supported the training of eyecare professionals and surgeons in Kenya since 2011. Fifty eye surgeons have been trained in small incision cataract surgery to date. This highly efficient cataract technique typically only takes 10 minutes and costs 25-50 USD. Right to Sight’s model for training new eye surgeons is based on a simple principle. Surgeries performed as a part of training are provided free of charge to patients unable to pay. Through these trained surgeries more than 4600 people have regained their sight since 2015 supported by the Grieg Foundation.

To improve eyecare in Kenya we also have to enhance the detection of eye disease. In Kenya’s youthful population, this starts at the very beginning. We therefore have another ongoing project training midwifes and nurses in Kwale County for early detection of cataract and refractive error in newborns and young children. The project, supported by the AKO Foundation, along with local authorities and hospitals, has been a resounding success with a significant increase in number of children referred to Kwale Eye Centre the past 3 years.

More recently, we have initiated a project to raise awareness and provide screening for the eye disease in the diabetic population. Diabetic retinopathy is a leading cause of blindness in working-age individuals worldwide, and the WHO estimates 4.5% of the Kenyan population will have diabetes by 2025. The project aims to increase the awareness of diabetic eye diseases in the population, train community health workers in early diagnosis and train eyecare professionals in the treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy. Kisii Eye Hospital is our partner in the project.

In March 2023, we also conducted a 5-day screening camp in Maasai Mara, an area with very limited eye care services. The camp was a collaboration between Right to Sight, Kwale Eye Centre, Kenyan MMUST, the University of Southeast Norway and Oltepesi Tented Safari Camp.

The Maasai people have on average lower life expectancy and higher child mortality than the rest of the population, with 4% of deaths being due to eye diseases.

433 people were examined and the screening team found eye disorders and diseases in 63% of them. Some were treated on site, those who need advanced follow-up will be treated at a surgery camp.