Outreach Eye Camps in Ghana

Summary

An outreach eye camp will screen between 200 and 500 patients and restore sight to approximately 20 to 50 people in Ghana through cataract surgery.

What is the issue, problem, or challenge?

Available statistics indicate that 200,000 Ghanaians are completely blind while an additional 600,000 are visually impaired. Seventy-five percent of this blindness is avoidable. (Source: Ghana Eye Foundation, December 2005). An outreach eye camp will restore sight to approximately 50 people in the Ashanti region of Ghana. Since 2009 the HCP has sponsored 35 remote outreach eye camps in Ghana.

How will this project solve this problem?

A team from Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, Ghana will travel to a remote site, screen patients for cataracts and perform free surgery to those who need it.

Potential Long Term Impact

Blindness is debilitating, particularly in the developing world. This project will help restore sight to 1500 individuals in the Ashanti region of Ghana. With their sight regained, they will return to work and contribute to their families income.

Project Message

"Most people in the U.S who develop cataracts have them quickly removed and replaced with new lenses. In Ghana 750,000 people are waiting for cataract surgery and the majority of them are blind..."
- Dr. Alan Crandall, HCP affiliated Ophthalmologist