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.

In Ghana, alone, 80-percent of people blinded by cataracts do not receive treatment due to poverty and the lack of access to eye care service. According to the Ghana Eye Foundation, there is one ophthalmologist to every 460,000 patients. Without regular and proper care, thousands are losing their eyesight. That’s one reason International Aid is there.

International Aid’s Faye Kragt (crawt) says their Ghana team is studying eye disease and vision loss in the region. “The survey itself is being conducted from the clinic, and the survey will take, in our estimation, probably another 18 months. We started with the training two years ago, the team is on the field working now and I think approximately 15-hundred people have already been surveyed, and we have another 45-hundred that we need to see.” Data analysis will help the team evaluate the prevalence and severity of ocular disease and vision loss. That, in turn, will help them better allocate resources, as well as identify, monitor, and respond to the causes of visual disability.

Training initiatives teach primary health care workers and leaders living in rural villages how to recognize abnormal eye symptoms. Kragt goes on to say it’s more than a physical mission. “Some of them are very poor. There’s a lot of physical needs, but we also find that there’s spiritual needs. It’s a wonderful thing to prevent people from becoming blind, or curing their blindness, but it’s an even better thing to prevent spiritual blindness and to bring people to see Christ.”

Teams are specialized, but International Aid is looking for support. Click here if you’re interested in furture details.