Context
Indigenous communities represent approximately 896,917 people in Brazil and are located in remote and underserved areas. These areas have almost no access to eye care or ophthalmological services, which is why they are all the more affected by eye diseases. Uncorrected refractive errors or uncorrected cataracts are the leading causes of visual impairment or blindness worldwide.
Supported Project
In 2020-2021, L'OCCITANE Brazil and the Foundation are supporting the Associação Médicos da Floresta (AMDAF) for its project on cataract prevention in Brazilian indigenous communities. The project aims to train ophthalmologists in Sao Paolo to carry out visual acuity tests in order to detect populations from Brazil's indigenous areas, which are particularly underserved. Patients who are found to have poor visual acuity due to cataract will be operated on free of charge. They will also be able to receive additional care if necessary at the nearest hospitals.
This supported project is part of the overall Amazonian Cataract Project which was created to offer appropriate training visual impairment and blindness screening to health coordinators at indigenous areas in Brasil so indigenous communities can have access to eye care and have quality life and social inclusion.
Some Figures
Budget 38,000 euros
Result 40,251 beneficiaries
History of the Partnership
L'OCCITANE Brasil and the L'OCCITANE Foundation have supported the Associaçao Médicos da Floresta since 2019-2020.
In 2019, the NGO started its Amazonian Cataract Project. The project was supposed to offer appropriate training to health coordinators in indigenous areas in Brasil, coordinate screenings, complete evaluation and diagnostics by ophthalmologists to detect and referral, offer spectacles, cataract and pterygium surgeries.
More information here.
