Tag term summary

  • Tania's sight is restored

    At five years of age, Tania had developed a cataract in her right eye - by the time she was 10, she was blind in both eyes. Her family’s lack of financial resources meant Tania was deprived of treatment she desperately needed. Approximately 40,000 children in Bangladesh are blind - 12,000 cases due to cataract Tania stopped going to school and had started losing contact with friends, becoming increasingly isolated due to her blindness.

  • Lifesavers have got to see

    One third of lifesavers tested need glasses on Bangladesh’s most dangerous beach Shows years of neglect in eye health Foundation doubling activities in 2012 It could be any beach in Australia. At 8am, around 30 young men are preparing to patrol their beach and protect swimmers from the dangers of the sea.

  • Children from slums given the chance of a better life

    With The Foundation's support, 979 children have been screened for vision problems in Bangladesh, with 242 receiving much-needed spectacles. The children are from the slum community at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in Dhaka, and were screened as part of the Foundation-funded Childhood Blindness Prevention Program.  

  • February 2012: Quarterly Report

    In this issue: Lom Lun and his grandson now have a better future thanks to a new eye hospital in Cambodia, The Foundation expands its work in Burundi, Kenya and China.

  • Surgeries rise in eastern Bangladesh

    Surgical training provided by The Fred Hollows Foundation has resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of people having their sight restored in the district of Brahmanbaria, Bangladesh. Dr Yeamli Khan and his medical team at Brahmanbaria District Hospital struggled for years to get their surgical rate to 100 per year. In 2001, they performed 36 surgeries. Three years later this figure had risen to 96 and finally, by 2007, they achieved 168 sight-restoring operations.

  • The relationship between poverty and visual impairment

    Does Cataract Surgery Alleviate Poverty? Evidence from a Multi-Centre Intervention Study Conducted in Kenya, the Philippines and Bangladesh. Hannah Kuper, Sarah Polack, Wanjiku Mathenge, Cristina Eusebio, Zakia Wadud, Mamunur Rashid, Allen Foster.  PLoS ONE 5(11): e15431. Published online 9 Nov 2010

  • Bangladesh

    Well over half a million people in Bangladesh are blind from cataract, and they needn’t be. The Foundation is helping to tackle this enormous backlog by training eye health workers and supporting improvements to the public health system. Overview Bangladesh is one of the lowest lying countries in the world with a network of rivers that criss-cross the country and form part of a huge delta.

  • Local clinic brings cataract surgery closer

    Nasiragar has become the first sub-district of Bangladesh to carry out regular cataract operations, thanks to The Foundation’s upgrade of a local health clinic.   Prior to the renovation of the Upazila Health Complex in Nasirnagar, patients living outside the nearest major city of Brahmanbaria needed to travel large distances for sight-restoring surgery. The high cost of transport, accommodation and surgery prevented many people from receiving vital eye care.

  • Sight restored to 487 in two days

    In just 48-hours The Fred Hollows Foundation has restored sight to 487 people in southern Bangladesh. The high-volume surgery occurred through an outreach mobile eye clinic (OMEC) in Satkhira, a district of farmers, who rely on sight to support their families. “Avoidable blindness is an urgent problem in Bangladesh,” says The Foundation’s CEO Brian Doolan. “The Foundation is working to reach as many people as possible as quickly as possible.”

  • Cataract surgery significantly improves health

    A new study, co-authored by The Foundation’s Dr Ciku Mathenge, finds that cataract surgery significantly improves a person's quality of life, vision and general health. The study, conducted in Kenya, Bangladesh, and the Philippines, explores the impact cataract surgery has on poverty and overall health amongst people aged 50 years and over.

  • Surgery now within reach in remote Bangladesh

    One of Bangladesh’s poorest and most isolated tribal groups now has the chance to receive eye care close to home, due to an awareness campaign conducted by The Foundation. The Foundation recently held a briefing session for more than 500 people from the Garo tribal group in northern Bangladesh. The session increased awareness of free eye services available at their nearest hospital, in Jamalpur. Jamalpur District Hospital was recently upgraded with The Foundation’s support.

  • Study confirms blindness causes poverty

    A world-first study co-authored by The Foundation’s Dr Ciku Mathenge provides the strongest evidence yet that sight restoring operations help break the poverty cycle in developing countries. Research in Kenya, Bangladesh and the Philippines shows the earning capacity of poor people with cataracts increased significantly after eye surgery. The results add weight to arguments for increasing eye health aid to poor countries, to help eradicate poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

  • World Sight Day 2010 - Bangladesh

    World Sight Day in Bangladesh takes place during a very busy week of activities for The Fred Hollows Foundation. In Jamalpur, The Foundation is screening the eyes of hundreds of indigenous people in the region and conducting sight restoring cataract surgeries when necessary. An outreach surgical camp is also taking place in Nasirnagar, in the remote Brahmanbaria district. Here patients will have the opportunity to receive eye treatments not usually available outside some of the larger cities, including operations to remove cataracts.

  • Raising awareness to get results in Bangladesh

    More people living with cataract blindness will be screened and treated in Bangladesh as a result of community leaders and volunteers raising awareness of the condition and how it can be treated. The Foundation briefed a small number of community leaders from the districts of Brahmanbaria, Jamalpur, Satkhira and Narail - to help build awareness of eye services offered by eye units at their local district hospital.

  • "I felt so happy that I could see everything"

    The Fred Hollows Foundation and Sightsavers International are collaboratively working towards the elimination of cataract blindness in children by the end of 2010. The Bangladesh Childhood Cataract Campaign aims to restore the sight of 10,000 children affected by bilateral and unilateral cataracts. Around 8,000 children have already had their sight restored through this successful campaign, enabling children to attend school and make progress towards achieving higher education.

  • Eye camp restores sight to 521 in Bangladesh

    The Foundation has restored sight to 521 people during a recent outreach microsurgical eye camp held in Satkhira district, Bangladesh. The Institute of Ophthalmology in Bangladesh provided three surgical teams to conduct the eye clinic in the district, which is located in the very south-west corner of the country. The camp has provided hope for many in a region that was heavily affected by the devastation of Cyclone Aila in May 2009.