This project is supported by the american subsidiary of L'OCCITANE en Provence.
Context
Bangladesh is ranked at 129 out of 189 countries on the UNs Human Development Index1.
It is among the most climate vulnerable countries, with heavy rain, floods, cyclones and periods of drought, intensifying the risk of food insecurity, disappearance of income opportunities for farmers, and the spread of water-related diseases. More than 25 million out of the country’s 171 million people are still living in poverty, mainly in rural areas. Although the political situation has been relatively stable in recent times there is still a risk of unrest, as relations between the two main parties remains fractious.
Supported Project
In 2024-2025, L'OCCITANE USA is supporting the Sightsavers project in Bangladesh, which focuses on screening people to diagnose eye problems, providing eye tests to check for refractive error, and supporting cataract operations to restore vision. It also helps to train volunteer community health workers and to implement integration projects aimed at ensuring that disabled people have equal access to healthcare, education and employment.
Sightsavers currently implements inclusive eye care projects in 16 districts through seventeen governmental and non-governmental organizations. Together with their partner, the BRAC (Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee) network of community health workers and volunteers, and local hospital partners, they are raising awareness of eye conditions in underserved communities and helping people gain easy access to treatment. He works with HelpAge International and Action on Disability and Development International to ensure we specifically reach the elderly and disabled.
He is responsible for training community health volunteers to provide front-line eye care services. This enables them to carry out eye examinations and screening tests.
With an innovative quality monitoring mechanism in place to record visual acuity pre- and post-surgical interventions using an online app, which helps surgeons to measure surgical quality straight after surgery and to record surgical information in a single, accessible place. It's think because many cataract patients in low and middle-income countries often cannot afford to travel the long distances for follow-up care, so eye care workers needed a simple tool to measure, benchmark and improve their results.
In addition, their project implementation officers are responsible for capturing beneficiary feedback and conducting patient satisfaction surveys using specific questionnaires. Results are uploaded onto mWater, a mobile data management platform, and analyzed on a quarterly basis.
Some Figure
Budget 29,763 euros
Goal 981,599 beneficiaries
Goal 807 healthed actors trained
photos credit: Sightsavers website
