news

Summer 2005 | www.sightsavers.org | Registered Charity Number 207544

sight savers

Joy in Nigeria
(thanks to your help)

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: John Major in India | Motorbiking in Malawi | The Big Eye Opener | Nelson Mandela

Welcome
With the largest population of any African country, and more than 1.5 million blind people, Nigeria is going to be an increasingly important country for Sight Savers in the future. Although, with our partners, weve had a huge impact on river blindness through Mectizan programmes for many years, weve only recently expanded our eye care work in the country. In this issue we take a look at our new programmes in Nigeria, and how they are changing peoples lives. You can also read about Sir John Majors recent visit to India with Sight Savers, where he took part in a film about blindness (page 8). Sir John, whose own father was blind, met Simhachalam, a woman who had just had her sight restored after 18 months of blindness from cataract. Recent figures released by the World Health Organization show a dramatic decrease in global blindness. It is now estimated that 37 million people in the world are blind, down from the previous estimate of 45 million people. Clearly the work of organisations like Sight Savers is making a difference, although theres still a long way to go before we reach our VISION 2020 target of eliminating avoidable blindness. Your support brings us a little closer to this, every day. Thank you on behalf of Sight Savers.

news
SUMMER 2005 UK Headquarters Sight Savers International Grosvenor Hall Bolnore Road Haywards Heath West Sussex RH16 4BX Tel 01444 44 6600 Fax 01444 446688 Email information@sightsavers.org UK Community Fundraising Sight Savers International Cobblestone Cottage Castle Road Clevedon Somerset BS21 7AA Tel and fax 01275 349881 Email rrichards@sightsavers.org Scotland Mary Baillie Sight Savers International PO Box 17160 Edinburgh EH12 6WF Tel and fax 0141 7751707 Email mbaillie@sightsavers.org About Sight Savers Sight Savers is the countrys leading charity combating blindness in the developing world. Sight Savers vision is of a world where no-one is needlessly blind. The charity works with partner organisations in poor and the least-served communities to help establish and support permanent activities that prevent and cure blindness, restore sight and provide help for people who will never see. Donation hotline 07000 14 20 20 (24/7) Website www.sightsavers.org
Front cover and main picture right: Zul Mukhida/Sight Savers

sight savers

Julie Wilton, Editor

IN THIS ISSUE

3 6 8 10 11 12

Cover story Reducing blindness in Nigeria Update International and local Sight Savers news India Filming cataract surgery Behind the scenes Working to save sight in rural Malawi Campaign The Big Eye Opener Saving Sight How you can support Sight Savers

Registered Charity Number 207544 Sight Savers International is also known as The Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind

2 SIGHT SAVERS NEWS | SUMMER 2005

Our big challenge

Sight Savers has recently stepped up its work to reduce avoidable blindness in Nigeria

NIGERIA

ne in five Africans is Nigerian. With over 130 million people, Nigeria is Africas most populous country. But over 70% of Nigerians live in poverty, earning less than $1 a day. Many families work as subsistence farmers, living a hand-tomouth existence, which means that health care is rarely a priority. It is perhaps not surprising that over

1.5 million people in the country are estimated to be blind, and the majority of blind people have little means of accessing the treatment or surgery they need to prevent or cure their blindness. Sight Savers has a long history of working with partners in the north of the country, supporting
Continues over page

Muntari Nuhu with his sister, after recent surgery to implant a new lens in his left eye

SIGHT SAVERS NEWS | SUMMER 2005 3

NIGERIA Continued

Ibrahims
water and sorting out the maize that her family grow on their farm. She can play with her sisters. More importantly, she will now be able to go to school. Sight Savers is working to ensure that services provided are appropriate to the needs of any particular area. In the drier, more arid areas of the north, we are working to prevent and treat trachoma, which affects thousands of people. Educational messages are broadcast on the radio, providing information about how to identify the symptoms and access treatment. Community workers, trained in basic eye care, are able to advise families on ways to prevent the infection for example, by keeping hands and faces clean. Sight Savers supports training for ophthalmic nurses in eyelid surgery for trichiasis, which develops through repeated infections of trachoma. Last year alone, over 30,000 children and adults were treated with antibiotics and over 3,700 people had surgery. One problem is that many people do not seek treatment until trachoma has developed into trichiasis, by which time it is very painful. Ibrahim Amadu had trachoma for 40 years before he came to see an ophthalmic nurse at a trachoma camp in Sokoto. Although Ibrahims vision was badly impaired, it was the pain and discomfort that made him seek treatment. He couldnt afford to pay for surgery, and wouldnt have come to the camp if he hadnt heard on the radio that it would be provided free of charge. Ibrahims life has been vastly improved since surgery. He no longer has any discomfort, and can work on his farm more easily and more often than when he had trachoma. Now that he can produce more on his farm, Ibrahim is able to take better care of his family. Sight Savers wants to help many more people like Bisola and Ibrahim. With so many people blind through conditions like cataract and trachoma, eliminating avoidable blindness in Nigeria will not happen overnight. But with continued support, we will be able to work with our partners in helping more and more people every year.

Bisola Ibrahim sorting out the maize grown by her family

programmes to control river blindness, once a major cause of blindness in the country. Communities nominate volunteers to distribute Mectizan, the drug that prevents river blindness. This approach has been hugely successful in protecting people from river blindness. But there are many more problems to face. Trachoma is very common in many northern states, and in some areas children can be affected almost from birth. It is estimated that 780,000 people suffer from cataract. Yet only 30,000 cataract surgeries are performed each year, due to shortages of essential equipment and ophthalmologists, particularly in rural areas, and a lack of knowledge about the eye care services available. This means that thousands of children and adults remain blind needlessly so for many years, some even for life. The challenge of reducing levels of avoidable blindness is enormous, but it is a challenge that Sight Savers is ready to face. We are building on the success of our work to control river blindness, so that people suffering from any blinding condition will have better access to the treatment they need. This work is already underway in Kaduna, Kwara and Cross River states, and similar programmes will
4 SIGHT SAVERS NEWS | SUMMER 2005

be established in four more states during the next two years. The programmes will provide health education and raise awareness in the community, while ensuring that hospital facilities are improved and staff are trained to be able to offer surgery and treatment for all kinds of conditions causing blindness.

our-year-old Bisola Ibrahim is one child who has been helped by Sight Savers work with local partner the Ministry of Health. Bisola was blind from cataract in both eyes for two years and was a quiet child who couldnt do anything for herself. She had to be guided and cared for by her elder sister, Funke. After cataract surgery in 2004, Bisola has started to realise her potential. She helps her mother with household chores, such as running errands, fetching

Zul Mukhida/Sight Savers (4)

Ophthalmic nurse Aliyu Umar screening patients at a trachoma camp in Sokoto

Nigeria AFRICA

NIGERIA FACT FILE

Population Land area Under-5 mortality Life expectancy 130,235,642 923,770 sq km 183 per 1,000 52 years (UK 59,598,039) (UK 242,910 sq km) (UK 7 per 1,000) (UK 78 years)

life has been vastly improved since surgery

TRACHOMA FACT FILE

Trachoma is a disease of poverty,

affecting mainly women and children in hot, dry and dusty areas where there is poor availability of water and sanitation, and little in the way of medical care.

Chlamydia trachomatis, a micro-

organism, causes the infection, which is spread by flies and cross infection, such as through unclean fingers and towels. trachoma cause trichiasis, when the eyelid turns inwards and the eyelashes rub on the eyeball, causing scarring, constant irritation, terrible pain and eventually blindness. World Health Organizations SAFE strategy: Surgery when a persons eyelids have turned inwards through trichiasis, a straightforward operation turns the eyelids outwards again; Antibiotics tetracycline or an oral antibiotic can treat trachoma; Face washing simple procedures such as face and hand washing reduce the rate of cross infection; Environmental hygiene communities are taught the benefits of good environmental health, which reduces breeding sites for flies, such as improved access to water and latrines.

Years of repeated infections of

Sight Savers supports the

Eyelid surgery relieved Ibrahim Amadus pain and discomfort from trichiasis

SIGHT SAVERS NEWS | SUMMER 2005 5

Update
Dramatic drop in global blindness
Above Washing the face and hands can reduce the spread of trachoma

ALL THE LATEST FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Moving on up
Sight Savers supporter Hilary Mitchell marked her 40th birthday with a fundraising climb of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africas highest mountain. Kilimanjaro reaches 5,895 metres, and at the top there is 50% less oxygen than at sea level, so it was a challenging climb. Hilary was accompanied by seven others and supported by a crew of 24, including guides, cooks and porters. The expedition took six days to complete and was a huge inspiration to Hilarys supporters. So much so, that she far exceeded her fundraising target of 2,000 and raised a fantastic 4,600 including 1,400 from her employers, Visa International, who generously offered to match whatever Hilary raised. Thanks to Hilary, her sponsors and Visa International.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has released new figures which reveal a dramatic shift in patterns of blindness in the world. The new figures reveal that there are now 37 million people in the world who are blind, including 1.4 million children (under 15) and a further 124 million people with visual impairment, based on the 2002 world population figures. Previous global figures estimated that there were 45 million people who were blind. The WHO attributes the lower levels of blindness to the long-term effects of organisations like Sight Savers tackling the infectious causes of blindness, combined with global population changes and better statistics. Ten years ago, infectious diseases such as trachoma were among the leading causes of blindness. Now, however, trachoma causes only 3.6% of blindness in the world. Because of an aging population, diseases such as agerelated macular degeneration (8.7%) have increased. Although cataract is still the leading cause of blindness, accounting for 47% of the total, Sight Savers work with local partners has had a significant impact in countries like India, where numbers of blind people have fallen from nine million to 6.7 million. Several states in India have developed some of the most efficient cataract surgical systems in the world.

Neil Hanna/The Scotsman

Thank You

Well done to all the runners in the Bath Half

Marathon who raised money for Sight Savers, especially Ben Davies and friends and Oliver Quantrill, who took to the streets for the second time. runners, with special thanks to Robert Frith and Peter Graham, who also did the marathon for us last year. again a great success. Thanks to Oxford North Rotary Club members for their on-going support of the event and to the Blenheim Palace staff. show, raising 3,581.

Award-winning visions of hope

An exhibition of Ian Rutherfords award-winning photographs of Sight Savers life-changing work in Bangladesh was showcased first in Edinburgh and then at the Spitz Gallery in London from March to May. At the opening in London, Carol McGregor, 2001 Scot of the Year for her work with visually impaired people and mother of film star Ewan, spoke about her trip to Bangladesh in 2003 with The Scotsman, and how much it affected her. Carol described her joy at witnessing seven-year-old Tajul Islam finally seeing his father for the first time after cataract surgery, and at meeting Tara Banu, 48, who was able to return to work as a weaver following two successful cataract operations. Scotsman photographer Ian Rutherford had travelled to Bangladesh with Carol, and then returned a few months later as part of an appeal drive by The Scotsman for Sight Savers. The photographs won the prestigious award for best photo essay, judged by UK picture editors of national newspapers.
6 SIGHT SAVERS NEWS | SUMMER 2005

Thanks to our intrepid London Marathon

The annual Blenheim Palace sponsored walk was

York Viking Inner Wheel Club organised a fashion Lucie Mathiszig and Andrea Farndon of Team
Marigold raised over 3,300 in sponsorship by participating in the 20-day Plymouth to Banjul Challenge over the New Year, travelling over 4,000 miles through seven different countries in their trusted 35-year-old 2CV. Savers in 2000, with a major campaign that raised 14,000 and repeated it again in 2004, raising a grand total of 26,000.

Kerstin Hacker/Sight Savers

Thanks to Ethicon, who began supporting Sight

Make poverty history

Decisions made by the G8 leaders at the summit have the power to change the lives of children round the world and the eyes of children will be watching them. No more lies, no more broken promises. We want action Nelson Mandela, MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY, Trafalgar Square, February 2005 On a cold lunchtime in February, Nelson Mandela was once again an inspiration to all who saw or heard him either in person at Trafalgar Square or on the TV, radio or in newspapers. The purpose of his visit was to support the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY campaign running in 2005. Mr Mandela handed over his white band the symbol of the campaign to a group of children, charging them to take it to Edinburgh, where the G8 leaders will be meeting. The G8 or G7 is a group of some of the worlds richest and most influential countries. In 2005, the UK is chairing this group and, along with other factors such as the UK holding the EU Presidency, this means 2005 is a unique year for the UK government to influence policies to make a difference to thousands of people living in poverty around the world. Poverty and blindness are inextricably linked in a world where 75% of blindness could be prevented or cured, solutions are needed at a global level.

If youd like to support the campaign: Join thousands of others in Edinburgh on 2 July calling to MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY. It promises to be a great day, with activities, music and inspiring speakers. Find out about travel arrangements by visiting the website at www.makepovertyhistory.org Wear a white band available for a suggested donation of 1.00 from www.sightsavers.org/makepovertyhistory or by calling 01444 446710 Send a message to the Prime Minister, find out how at www.sightsavers.org/ makepovertyhistory

Above Nelson Mandela handing his white band to children from Langdon School, London, to take to Edinburgh

Andrew Aitchison/ActionAid UK

Coming
Sunday 19 June Morecambe Bay Walk with the Queens Official Guide, Cedric Robinson Saturday 3 September Start of Expedition First Light, which includes cycling, sailing, running and climbing Mount Blanc Sunday 4 September Hydo Active Womens Challenge, a 5km (3 miles) fun run being held in Hyde Park, London, Birmingham City Centre and Sefton Park, Liverpool Sunday 2 October Malvern Hills annual sponsored walk June 2006 The 24 hour Mountain Challenge event, which will celebrate 30 years of partnership between Sight Savers and Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland

UP

Sending friends to school

The Global Campaign for Education, of which Sight Savers is a member, has joined forces with the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY campaign this year, giving children an opportunity to participate. The Send My Friend to School activity involves learning about a child who cant go to school and making a model buddy to represent them. Buddies can be simple cut outs or made online. These buddies will be presented to the leaders of the G8 group of countries when they meet in Edinburgh, asking them to send my friend to school. Kelvin is a six-year-old boy who is blind and lives in the Dagoretti slums, outside Nairobi in Kenya. He wants to go to school and his parents want him to go to school. Primary education is free in Kenya now, but his parents simply cant afford the bus fare of 15 a month to take him to Kilimani school. Buddies will be coming from all around the world. Children in a number of countries are taking part. Partner organisations of Sight Savers in the Gambia and Malawi are supporting children to take buddies to their own Heads of State. If youd like to know how you can help as an individual or as a school please visit the website at www.sightsavers.org/sendmyfriend
Andrew Aitchison/ActionAid UK

Above Children from Langdon School, London, making buddies Right Six-yearold Kelvins family cannot afford to send him to school

SIGHT SAVERS NEWS | SUMMER 2005 7

Neil Hanna/The Scotsman

I
Annie Watson/Sight Savers (3)

A Major triumph
t was already an eventful week for 45-year-old Simhachalam from Parvatipuram, a small village in the rural and mountainous Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Simhachalam had just found out that she would be able to have her sight restored, after 18 months of blindness. Little did she know that in the next few days shed feature in a film and meet an ex British Prime Minister. Simhachalams story will be told in a documentary about global blindness due to be shown on BBC World TV to mark World Sight Day in October. The film will be narrated by Sir John Major and is being
8 SIGHT SAVERS NEWS | SUMMER 2005

INDIA

Sir John Major recently visited India to make a film about blindness

funded by Standard Chartered Bank, a supported by Standard Chartered Banks generous Sight Savers supporter. It will Seeing is Believing programme in take an in-depth look at preventable and India. Sir John has personal reasons for curable blindness around getting involved in the film. the world and the work that I witnessed the devastating VISION 2020 is doing to tackle effects of blindness when this needless tragedy. my father lost his sight in old Sir John met Simhachalam age. I remember as a young on his visit to the Sankar boy, guiding him around the Foundation Hospital in busy streets of London. What Vishakapatnam, where shed is stunning is that today undergone cataract surgery his sight could have been on her right eye a couple of restored simply and cheaply. days earlier. The hospital is A few weeks before the one of Sight Savers projects film crew arrived, Kamala, a At home before surgery

Simhachalam and Pundari (second row) returning home after surgery

Filming the return to the village

Sir John Major meeting Simhacalam and Pundari

INDIA FACT FILE

Population Land area Under-5 mortality Andhra Pradesh Life expectancy INDIA 1,096,917,184 3,287,260 sq km 93 per 1,000 64 years (UK 59,598,039) (UK 242,910 sq km) (UK 7 per 1,000) (UK 78 years)

community eye health worker, had found Simhachalam in a door-to-door survey and persuaded her that she should have cataract surgery. Tragically, at the time that Simhachalam had started to develop cataract and lose her sight, her daughter Parvathi had died. Simhachalam had thought her sight was going because she was crying all the time. So she didnt seek help.

hen the crew first met her, Simhachalam was subdued but calm. Spending time with her and her husband Pundari and son Ramu in the days she went for

surgery, and filming them going about their daily routine, it became obvious how each of their lives had changed since Simhachalam began to lose her sight. Now that Simhachalam, the main breadwinner, was no longer able to work, the family were only eating one meal a day. 18-year-old Ramu had left school to work every day and was unable to get married. Simhachalam was nervous about the operation but said: Getting the operation is much better than suffering like this. The evening before surgery she visited a temple that honours the god Simhachalam on the hill above the hospital, which she

had visited every year until she lost her sight. At the temple she cried, saying it was fate that she was getting her sight restored in the shadow of her namesake. Two days later Simhachalams bandages came off and she could see again. As well as being delighted to be able to see her husband, she was keen to see the faces of the film crew who had been following her around. The crew filmed the celebrations when she and Pundari returned to their village and were greeted by their friends. In a couple of weeks time Simhachalams eye will have recovered enough for her to return to her work in the fields; there will be money for food and, in time, for Ramu to get married. Simhachalams story may be broadcast on television but its not that unusual. Throughout the developing world, every day a similar story of hope is unfolding.
SIGHT SAVERS NEWS | SUMMER 2005 9

Pavuluri Ravindranath/Sight Savers

BEHIND THE SCENES

Motorised medic
In the cool of the early morning, Rodney Masese takes to the open road on his motorbike. After riding for an hour and a half down dirt roads he arrives at a small health centre in an isolated rural community about 40 miles away. There he spends several hours providing eye care to the local community, before getting back on the motorbike and heading off to the next health centre an hour away. Ophthalmic medical assistant Rodney is responsible for the eye care for Machinga and Balaka districts in Malawi, looking after a total population of 520,000 people. His week is divided between outreach work, holding clinics at 32 local health centres on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and running his clinic at the Machinga District Hospital the other days. I like the combination of clinical ophthalmology and community ophthalmology, says Rodney. Its a nice mix to work in both set ups.
10 SIGHT SAVERS NEWS | SUMMER 2005

Ophthalmic medical assistant Rodney Masese uses his motorbike to cover an area of over a half a million people in Malawi.

Rodney can reach three outreach clinics in a day on his motorbike and visits a clinic once every two months. A programme of visits is put up in the health centre and local volunteers help spread the word about an upcoming clinic. Rodney and the volunteers screen people for eye problems, and then he treats basic conditions such as bacterial infections, conjunctivitis, allergies and trachoma. He refers patients to his clinic at the district hospital so he can fit glasses for refractive errors and perform eyelid surgery for trichiasis. Rodney also refers people with cataract to the hospital, where a team of surgeons visit every three months to perform cataract surgery. Rodney says: I have great satisfaction from my job, especially when I have a blind person who cannot see, and then two to three days later he or she is sighted and happy that makes me happy too. The cycle of blind, screening, surgery, sighted is so simple but effective.

1 Rodney and his Sight Savers donated motorbike

2 Performing surgery

Jenny Matthews/Sight Savers (4)

3 Examining a patient after eyelid surgery for trichiasis

4 Screening students at school to catch eye problems early

CAMPAIGN

The Big Eye Opener

Sight Savers Big Eye Opener is a new campaign designed to draw attention to the breathtaking fact that 75% of the worlds blindness is avoidable.
Most blind people live in the worlds poorest countries. Someone goes blind every five seconds. A child goes blind every minute. Most of this is totally needless. Its tough enough living in poverty and deprivation in the first place. If youre blind, its even harder. But in most cases its both simple and cheap to prevent blindness and restore sight. We just need the willpower and resources. Sight Savers is launching the Big Eye Opener campaign around Midsummer, when we enjoy the longest amount of daylight, to open peoples eyes to the global problem of avoidable blindness and demonstrate how easy it is to address. As part of the Big Eye Opener, we are launching a special campaign in Bangladesh to ensure that no child is blind from cataract. Its a race against time. We need to reach a child born with cataract as early as possible, but at the latest by the age of seven, because after that its unlikely they will ever see properly as the brain cant learn to see after this age. We can dramatically change peoples lives by restoring sight or preventing blindness in the first place. But we can only do this with the help of our supporters.

Eye-opening coffee breaks

Sight Savers is inviting supporters around the country to take part in Big Eye Opener Coffee Breaks. While youre having your coffee, please take a few minutes to visit our special website www.bigeyeopener.org, look at our eye-opening optical illusions and see how easy it is to make a difference to the lives of blind people in the worlds poorest countries. Special eye-opening, heat-reactive mugs are available to buy through the online shop on our website or by phoning 01444 446632. You may even feel inspired to organise an Eye-Opening Coffee Break to raise money for Sight Savers. How about asking your friends to make special carrot cake, which is full of Vitamin A, so great for the eyesight!

We are also working with primary schools across the country. They will be holding special Big Eye Opener school assemblies. The children will be asked to close their eyes for a minute and imagine what they would most like to see when they open them. They will then be asked to illustrate their favourite eye-opening sight in whatever form they wish, be it painting, song, poem, rap etc. The final entries will be judged by a panel of experts. The top 50 winning entries from the Schools Arts challenges will be showcased at the Royal Academy of Arts in London on World Sight Day, 13 October. If you know a school which would like to take part, please call 0870 240 1640 for a pack.

Dont miss our heatreactive Big Eye Opener mugs

SIGHT SAVERS NEWS | SUMMER 2005 11

Zul Mukhida/Sight Savers

Schools Arts Challenge

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