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Dr Monze examining Lweendo©s eye. © Tom McDonnell/Sightsavers

Dr Monze examining Lweendo©s eye. © Tom McDonnell/Sightsavers

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Keeping the future in sight for young and old

On a recent visit to Zambia I witnessed firsthand what the loss of sight could
really mean for someone living in a developing country. People lined up outside the building, filling the courtyard in small family groups, all patiently waiting for the first eye clinic to be held at Chikuni Mission Hospital. I had travelled to Zambia eager to visit a programme where our work was only beginning.

This would allow me to see what losing sight could really mean in rural
Africa, where poor eye healthis one of the most common health problems.
In the crowd waiting, a small, smiling face stood out. Dr Monze, the
ophthalmologist heading up Sightsavers’ Lusaka to Livingstone Eyecare
Programme bent down to examine the little girl.

“This is why eyecare services are so desperately needed here” he explained. Lweendo (age seven), had been playing with her friends when she felt something hit her eye. Her mother was breastfeeding a younger brother and there was no-one to take Lweendo for treatment for four days.

Without anyone trained in eyecare, all the local clinic could do was refer Lweendo to the local hospital and there again she sat for a week before being referred to the district hospital. There, Lweendo had her first piece of luck, she was examined by Nurse Rita Duuka, who has been trained in eyecare as part of the Sightsavers' project.

Read the full story here.