Afghanistan

Most Afghanis have limited access to eye care services.

"Fred Hollows believed that the toughest places in the world to work are usually the places with the greatest need," says Brian Doolan, The Foundation's CEO.

Overview

A week-long eye camp for some of Afghanistan's poorest people was held at the Ministry of Public Health Hospital (MoPH), Jalalabad. After two decades of violence, Afghanistan’s health system has largely been destroyed.

One in five children die before the age of five and only a quarter of the population has access to a safe water supply.

The vast majority of Afghanis have limited access to eye care services as 87% of the ophthalmic workforce is based in major cities and only 13% in rural areas.

The Foundation began work in Afghanistan in 2006, contributing to the Afghanistan Ministry of Public Health’s five-year national plan.

We are working with local partners to incorporate eye care into primary health care systems and to develop secondary eye care centres at provincial and district levels.

We focus on training so that local medical workers can service the high demand for eye health services, making the eye care system sustainable.

"The success of this program shows us that even in a country as war-torn as Afghanistan, practical measures can be taken to develop medical infrastructure and improve the lives of those who are disadvantaged by avoidable blindness." - Brian Doolan, The Foundation's CEO

Achievements 2010

Through our program work in Afghanistan, The Foundation:

screened 15,874 people
performed 879 cataract operations and 109 other eyesight interventions
trained 40 community health workers
assisted a local eye specialist to complete a clinical diploma in ophthalmology at the Pakistan Institute of Community Ophthalmology
examined the eyes of boys and girls in schools, and trained teachers to identify eye disease.

In 2010 The Foundation also worked with partners at Nangarhar Public Health Hospital's eye unit to continue provision of essential and quality eye care services whilst also holding eye camps and school screening camps.

About the program

Patient undergoes eye surgery at the Ministry of Public Health Hospital (MoPH) in Jalalabad. Around 400,000 people in Afghanistan are blind, with a high incidence of cataract and trachoma – diseases that are largely treatable and/or preventable.

The Foundation works with local partners at district and community level in Nangarhar Province to serve a population of over one million people.

We are training surgeons in the latest manual cataract small incision surgical techniques, training paramedics to become ophthalmic technicians, training refractionists to improve their skills and capacity, and training hospital staff in project management.

We have established a Community Vision Centre (CVC) in Kunar Province in addition to the fully functional eye unit in Nangarhar Province. The Foundation works with partners at Nangarhar Public Health Hospital's eye unit to provide essential and quality eye care services.

We support/run free eye camps and school screening camps where students and members of the public are provided with glasses where necessary, operated on, or referred to the Ministry of Public Health Hospital (MoPH).

We also conduct community eye health awareness campaigns, using banners and public announcements in local languages.

Facts and figures

Eye health
Number of blind people	400,000
National blindness prevalence	1.5%-2%
Main causes of blindness	cataract (40%), trachoma (15%), corneal opacity (15%)
Number of cataract operations performed annually	15,000
Number of ophthalmologists	118 (only 40 are trained IOL surgeons, 5 trained in community ophthalmology)
Reasons for low cataract surgical rates and backlog	Lack of personnel and supplies