Ghana (MNN) ― There are roughly 20 million people living in Ghana, of which 10-percent are blind and 30-percent struggle with visual impairment. Most of these problems are preventable.
For example, cataract is the leading cause of blindness. It is treatable by operation and optical correction.
According to statistics from the Ghana Eye Foundation, each year tens of thousands of people become blind from cataract in both eyes, and thousands of others become blind in only one eye. This means that in order to keep pace with the newly-blind patients and to see a reduction in the rate of cataract blindness, at least 44,000 eyes need the cataract operation.
That's an overwhelming statistic in a place where eye care is not even readily available in every community. When you add to that the poverty levels, few can afford the surgery they would need to correct the problem.
International Aid's Faye Kragt (crawt) says that's one reason why they launched an eye clinic in Ghana. Their goal is to see it eventually stand on its own. "International Aid is helping support it because we see a lot of patients who are not able to pay either full cost, or in some of the area where we work, people are not able to pay anything at all."
I-A launched outreach brigades and training classes aimed at prevention and cure. Optical Outreach Brigades are made up of volunteers and optical staff from the clinics. They perform screenings in far-off villages, evaluating the risk of eye disease and the need for treatment or spectacles.
The other part of this initiative is the "Healthy Eye" training initiatives. Volunteer staff with International Aid teach primary health care workers and leaders living in rural villages how to recognize abnormal eye symptoms.
But there's a deeper component to the outreach, says Kragt. "There's a lot of Christians who are working at our clinic, so there's that personal ministry. Many of our volunteers are Christians. When they go to surgery, our doctors there pray with the staff and the patients, and there's many ways to be able to do that. We try to make sure that it's not just in word, but it's in deed."
If you want to help support this outreach, click here.
