Context
Blindness is the leading cause of disability in Burkina Faso. The country suffers from a lack of eye health personnel and access to quality eye health services is severely limited, particularly for people living in remote, rural communities.
According to the World Health Organization, trachoma is ‘the leading cause of infectious blindness worldwide’ and is responsible for the blindness or visual impairment of about 1.9 million people. If left untreated, over time it causes scarring to the eyelid that pulls the eyelashes inward, so with every blink they scrape against the eye, which can lead to sight-loss. Children can commonly get the initial infection although the advanced stages of the disease which lead to visual impairment is more common in adults. If someone has the advanced stage of the disease and they are not able to access treatment (eyelid surgery), they will become blind and, for many people, this means they are unable to work and earn a living anymore.
According to the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO), the establishment of a comprehensive eye health system is necessary to achieve the elimination of trachoma, as well as to address cataract blindness and refractive error. Strengthening the system also increases the number of eye health personnel in Burkina Faso and helps to provide sustainable access to quality eye care services.
Supported project
In 2021-2022, the L’OCCITANE Foundation is supporting Sightsavers, an international NGO working to protect sight and fight for disability rights in Africa. The aim of the project being supported is to develop access to eye care in the Cascades region of Burkina Faso. This project started in Sindou health district and is identifying and treating trachoma cases; the overall aim being to eliminate trachoma in this region in the next few years.
The key areas of focus for the project are by specific objective:
- Improving geographical and financial access to eye health care for the population of the Cascades region: Ensure the management of residual “TT” (advanced trachoma) cases, cataract cases in Sindou health district, carry out in the communities of the health district screening, and management of the main eye pathologies (cataract, refractive errors, etc.), organize school-based screening campaigns, etc.
- Improving prevention, information, and awareness of vulnerable populations in eye health through special training (community-based health workers, major traditional health practitioners, teachers, etc.) and community outreach.
- Ensure availability of qualified human resources for eye health: training of primary health workers on primary eye care, train/Retrain 03 TSOs in the detection and correction of refractive errors, provide formative supervision of cataract operators and ophthalmologists on cataract surgery (one per year), provide formative supervision of TSO on URE.
Some figures
Budget 120,000 euros
Goal 10,000 beneficiaries
