Projects Eye Care Project

It is not often understood that the major cause of visual impairment in the world today is simply the lack of appropriate glasses. Of course we encounter serious eye diseases too, like cataracts, glaucoma and trachoma, but all of these conditions are treatable, and vision can be restored if only we can identify the people who need it.

That is the key, because there is very little infrastructure in the  form of primary care in the very populated rural areas. We take eye testing into the rural communities, where we see many cases of blindness and visual impairment that could have been prevented, or where sight could be restored, and we arrange for glasses, surgery or medicines to be provided as required.

As importantly, we train members of the village health teams to perform their own basic sight tests in their villages, and supply them with the basic equipment to do that. This way, the work is carried on throughout the year, not just on our one week visits. The eye teams  are all volunteers who fund themselves so your donation will go directly to improving someone's vision, and so improving their education, employability and prospects of independence.

The video below gives you a glimpse of the Optom team's Eyecamp trip in 2019: