International development organisation The Fred Hollows Foundation is making strong progress to end avoidable blindness in Kenya with more than 136,000 people receiving eye operations and treatments last year, according to a statement.
The Foundation’s Kenya Country Manager Peter Milo said efforts to increase people’s access to eye health, particularly in rural and hard to reach communities, was a major priority.
“To achieve this, The Foundation is working with partners to train more eye care health workers and to support national and county governments to effectively plan, resource, and monitor integrated eye health services,” he said.
“We are working closely with governments to ensure eye care is prioritised in planning and budgeting processes.
Milo said The Foundation’s new five-year strategy was focused on scaling eye health programs to tackle key barriers by building the eye health workforce.
In Kenya, 88 per cent of people who are blind don’t need to be. Blindness can be prevented or corrected with straightforward, inexpensive interventions, he said.
Milo also urged people to prioritise their own eye health.
“I urge our community members to go for regular eye check-ups and seek treatment whenever diagnosed with any eye problem,” he said.
“We know that improved eye health is linked to better education, more inclusive societies and economic development.”
Research released last year by The Foundation and Australia’s Victoria University showed that cataract surgery provides one of the largest investment returns to any disease intervention.
The research found that for every dollar invested in cataract treatment, there was an economic return of Sh6,656
Kenya Global Results 2023
- 515,344 people screened
- 136,218 eye operations and treatments performed
- 16,287 pairs of glasses distributed
- 8,942 people trained (including community health workers, teachers, clinic support staff, surgeons and educators)
