Context
In Burkina Faso, visual impairment affects 25% of the total population (4.75 million people in a population of 19 million), and that population is still growing. The need for eye treatments is currently increasing more quickly than the ability to train and deploy eye healthcare professionals. There were 35 ophthalmologists1 in the country in 2017, and only 7 of them worked outside of Ouagadougou and Bobo Dioulasso (the two largest cities in Burkina Faso). This means that in rural areas, where 75% of the population live, there is fewer than one ophthalmologist per 2 million people2, which make access to eye healthcare not just very difficult, but almost impossible. In addition, at primary and community levels, where most eye diseases can be prevented or treated, health workers still have very little knowledge on the subject and often lack insurance and equipment.
1Training for four of them was financed by L'OCCITANE between 2012 and 2017.
2The World Health Organisation recommends one ophthalmologist per 250,000 people.
Supported project
In 2019-2020, L'OCCITANE Switzerland and the L'OCCITANE Foundation were supporting the Optique Solidaire's project, which aimed to train people at the local level in order to create all the conditions necessary for a full autonomy in the solvability of optics, optometry and opthalmology problems. The projet gave the priority to school-aged children so that their vision issues would not be an obstacle to pursuing their education.
The project was divided in three activities :
1) Screening: A team of Burkinabe went to schools to identify children who had vision problems. They also screened teachers.
2)Realization of glasses – Care for visual impairments: Children and adults with vision problems or presenting eyes with a pathology were examined at the Optical Center of Saponé. They had a complete visual examination and a state of the health of their eyes. Treatments were provided by ophthalmology associates and glasses are fitted by trained or in-training opticians.
3) Activity tracking: Students and adults who had been examined at the Optical Center had regular checkups to ensure their medical follow-up or the evolution of glasses corrections.
Some figures
Budget 10,000 euros
Result 7,039 beneficiaries
