Himalayan Cataract Project E-News: July 2010Here you will find news of our latest international eye care activities. This month’s newsletter includes:
- Village intervention in Mwandama, Malawi
- High-volume cataract program in Ethiopia
- Successful outreach camp in Ghana
- Ongoing training at Kenyatta National Hospital in Kenya
- Dr. Ruit receives CMO Asia Brand Builder of the Year Award
- Mid-year reports from Nepal and Tibet
- Eight-year old raises over $100 for HCP selling lemonade
Village intervention in Mwandama, Malawi | | 
A Malawian child recuperates after cataract surgery.
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In June, HCP Board Member Dr. Matt Oliva managed an eye care intervention in Mwandama, Malawi, in collaboration with the Millennium Villages Project and the Lions Sight First Eye Hospital in Blantyre. In total, 1,000 pairs of glasses were distributed, 115 cataract surgeries performed, over 1,000 patients screened and 70 village health care workers trained.
“Overall we have achieved good success and effectively developed a platform in which to launch improved quality and access to eye care services in the region for years to come. The Himalayan Cataract project is optimistic and excited about future opportunities in Malawi. There is a huge need” - Matt Oliva
Through our collaboration with the Earth Institute and the Millennium Villages Project, we are bringing quality eye care to some of the poorest places on earth and assessing the impact of sight restoration in these areas. The Mwandama intervention was the seventh eye care intervention with Millennium Villages and is the first HCP project in Malawi, where HCP-supported researchers remain to study the economic impacts of blindness. It was also our first collaboration with Global Vision 2020, which worked to train local screeners in self-refraction and glasses distribution. High-volume cataract program in Ethiopia | | 
Dr. Oliva examines a pediatric patient.
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HCP partners at the Quiha Zonal Hospital in Mekelle, Ethiopia, managed a high-volume cataract workshop in July, providing nearly 950 cataract surgeries and 12 corneal transplants. The Quiha team, led by HCP Fellow Dr. Tilahun Kiros and CEO Mr. Tesfu Haregot, organized the screening and transportation for the patients, and were then joined by Dr. Matt Oliva and Dr. Paul Jorizzo. Some patients came from as far away as 600 kilometers.
Dr. Oliva worked with HCP Fellows Dr. Zerihun and Dr. Yewubnesh who had just returned from training in at the Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology in Nepal and stated that “both are doing wonderful cataract surgery and the outcomes and quality of the surgery at Quiha is the best that I have seen thus far in Africa.”
The team was also joined by a film crew from Poland who was working on a program featuring women helping women around the world. The upcoming program will highlight Dr. Yewubnesh and eye care at the Quiha Zonal Hospital. Successful outreach camp in Ghana | | 
Post operative patients at the outreach eye clinic.
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Dr. Seth Lartey from Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) has been reaching more blind patients through monthly Outreach Eye Clinics providing anywhere from 30 to 150 surgeries.
The June outreach in Kete-Krachi screened 900 patients and performed 90 surgeries in 3 days. Representatives from Global Giving joined Dr. Lartey at the camp and shared their positive experience on the Global Giving website where the HCP/Ghana project is featured. Since 2005, Global Giving has raised $13,675 for the HCP.
Read the Global Giving report > Ongoing training at Kenyatta National Hospital in Kenya | | 
Dr. Huck Holz at Kenyatta.
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HCP affiliated doctors have been working with the Kenyatta National Hospital for over two years to enhance its specialized techniques in collaboration with Orbis International. Dr. Huck Holz was in Kenya earlier this month to teach anterior segment, external disease, cornea and cataract surgery techniques to the attending staff.
In addition to performing 9 cornea transplant surgeries, Dr. Holz worked with Dr. Patricia Otieno, the Residency Director and Head of Anterior Segment, to follow up with cornea patients from Dr. Geoff Tabin’s February visit (see February newsletter). They worked together to perform several cataract surgeries using a phacoemulsification unit donated by HCP. Dr. Ruit receives CMO Asia Brand Builder of the Year AwardHCP’s Co-Director Dr. Sanduk Ruit has won the prestigious CMO Asia Brand Builder of the Year Award for developing sutureless cataract surgery.
“It’s good and important that our work has been well received and recognized because in this 21st century, which is all about economy, marketing and branding, and networking, people all over the world who don’t know Nepal that will come to know about things we do here is good. I am happy not only for me but for the recognition my team and country has received.” - Sanduk Ruit
Congratulations to Dr. Ruit. The award announcement was featured in the Himalayan Times newspaper. Mid-year updates from Nepal and TibetThe Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology screened 145,005 patients in the first half of 2010 and provided 9,070 cataract surgeries through its network of community eye centers, community eye hospitals and outreach microsurgical eye clinics. Tilganga continues to host trainees from around the world and has recently provided training to teams from Nigeria, Ethiopia and North Korea.
The Lhasa Institute of Eye Care (LIEC) provided 450 surgeries, nearly half of which were free cataract surgeries, in the first half of 2010. A total of 3,718 patients were examined and screened for eye disease. Funds raised by HCP continue to support LIEC which examines an average of 40 patients per day and provides an average of 20 surgeries per week to patients from throughout the Tibetan countryside. Second annual Fourth of July lemonade fundraiser | | 
Camille and her family at the lemonade stand.
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Camille Sweet, an eight-year-old from Waterbury, Vermont, along with her brother, cousins and friends, sold homemade lemonade on the Fourth of July to benefit the Himalayan Cataract Project.
Camille and her team raised $107 and plan on making this an annual event. THANK YOU, CAMILLE!!!
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Dr. Tabin and a patient in India.
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The Himalayan Cataract Project works to eradicate preventable and curable blindness through high quality ophthalmic care, education and the establishment of a world-class eye care infrastructure.
Please visit our Web site at www.cureblindness.org to keep up with the latest HCP news. There you will also find information on HCP’s finances, its founders, staff and board members, and ways that you can give the gift of sight.
Remember, through the Himalayan Cataract Project it takes a gift of only $20 to provide life-changing cataract surgery to someone struggling with blindness in the developing world. |
