Ghana

The need for child eye health services in Ghana is immense. It is estimated that 9,000 children are blind, and up to 70% of these cases are avoidable. There are only two trained pediatric ophthalmologists in the country and no formal pediatric ophthalmology training exists.

140,000

suffering from blindness

Only 2

pediatric ophthalmologists

Around 6,300

children blind due to avoidable causes

Success in Ghana

Orbis and our amazing partners created an 18-month program to help reduce childhood blindness and visual impairment by training ophthalmologists in child eye care. We have developed a plan to train Community Health Officers and introduce school screenings to build awareness and improve access.

In addition, and thanks to our advocacy efforts, Ghana’s Minister of Health inaugurated a new building funded by USAID to house the eye department.

Thanks to your support we're improving skills and building capacity at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital and have increased the number of children accessing surgery by 51%.

Your support helped Kingsley see again

July 26, 2017

Two-year-old Kingsley developed bilateral congenital cataracts shortly after birth. His mother noticed he had difficulty opening his eyes in daylight. She didn’t realize though that this was the result of a serious condition until he developed a white spot in his right eye at age one.

Read full story

What we're doing next

We’re continuing to partner with the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital to develop quality pediatric services in collaboration with the Himalayan Cataract Project, which focuses on adult services.

Funded by Seeing is Believing, a Standard Chartered Bank initiative, we’re implementing four key interventions at community, primary and district levels of the health and education system to integrate eye health into the health system and drive demand for eye health services:

Working with Queen Mothers at the community level to improve awareness of eye health conditions and services available.
Integrate eye health into the primary health services through the training of Community Health Officers to identify, treat and refer children with eye health conditions.
Strengthening the capacity of district hospitals to treat and refer children with eye health conditions appropriately.
Ensure school children are screened for refractive error and receive the spectacles they need.

Can you help improve access to quality eye care in Ghana?

Donate