HCP partners with Jeffrey Sachs & the Millennium Villages Project

In February, Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, requested the HCP’s assistance in conducting a pilot study on eye care services in twelve Millennium Research Villages spread throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.  The Millennium Villages Project was established in part to prove that successful implementation of the UN Millennium Development Goals is possible in the poorest, most underserved areas of the developing world. HCP has agreed to provide comprehensive eye care in each of the Villages (5,000 per village) and to demonstrate that the costs of these services will fit within the complex U.N. Health Budget for the Millennium Villages Project.

In July, the HCP conducted its inaugural MVP eye care intervention in Bonsaaso, Ghana, one of the 12 Millennium Research Villages.  HCP Co-Director Dr. Geoffrey Tabin led a team in conjunction with local ophthalmologists from Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, Ghana.  During the intervention, 4,600 people were screened, 160 cataract surgeries were provided.

For more information on the Earth Institute and then Millennium Villages Project, please visit their websites:

www.earth.columbia.edu

www.millenniumvillages.org