Seva Foundation
The magnitude of people suffering from blindness in Africa is overwhelming. Besides the challenges of poverty, there are simply not enough trained eye care medical staff to serve the population at large. Cataract is the number one cause of blindness in the world and a simple 15 minute surgery can remove a cataract and restore sight! Yet only one in ten people blinded by cataracts ever receives surgery.
There is a desperate need for effective programs to train local people to provide eye care to their own communities. Seva has responded to that need by partnering with the Kilimanjaro Centre for Community Ophthalmology in Tanzania. This center helps to develop and promote prevention of blindness activities throughout the entire East Africa region.
Deeper Africa partners with Seva Foundation to provide Seva's donors with the opportunity to see firsthand Seva's work with the Kilimanjaro Centre for Community Opthalmology (KKCO) in Moshi, Tanzania. At KCCO, Drs. Paul Courtright and Susan Lewallen, along with the Tanznaian staff, provide privileged access to their Maasai community outreach programs, the wards and operating rooms of KCMC Hospital in Moshi, and the homes of tribal people whose lives have been touched by KCCO and Seva. Deeper Africa has personally designed a complete wildlife and cultural safari specifically for Seva donors.
Seva's partnership with KCCO supports the following:
- Development of community-based programs and hospital-based programs to improve cataract recognition and referral by existing primary care and community-based rehabilitation workers.
- Creation of strategies to improve uptake of cataract surgery by women.
- Recognition and referral of children with vision loss through training of teachers and others.
- School screening for refraction through collaboration with ophthalmic medical assistants.
- Training courses for East African ophthalmology residents and community health personnel.