The world is facing a global eye care crisis but a project in Bangladesh has shown that inclusive health for everyone, regardless of their gender, age, health or background, is achievable.
Without urgent resource, funding and effort, the number of people who are blind could treble by 2050. Yet this isn’t inevitable: almost half of global vision loss is preventable or treatable with quality eye care services.
Sightsavers’ Right to Health programme, funded by the UK government through UK Aid Match, helped around 877,000 people from marginalised groups in Bangladesh access basic eye health. It focused on groups which have faced barriers accessing these treatments and care – including people with disabilities, women, older people and transgender communities.
It showed how lives can be transformed and why it is so important for governments around the world to make eye care an integral part of national health and education systems.
Syeda Asma Rashida, Project Manager for Right to Health in Bangladesh at Sightsavers said: “Access to quality eye care can have a transformative effect on individuals and communities. We know that good eye health increases access to education and the workplace, and improves productivity and wellbeing.
“We found that people with disabilities, older people, women and other marginalised groups face many barriers when it comes to accessing health care.
Continued resource, funding, and commitments to health system strengthening are needed from governments and other organisations, if we are to reduce the burden of vision impairment around the world and ensure inclusive health access for everyone. No one should be left behind when it comes to eye health.”
Vision loss is typically far greater in low- and middle-income countries, particularly among older people and in women. Treating it reduces poverty and helps individuals regain independence.
Efforts in Bangladesh have so far resulted in over 47,000 cataract surgeries, eye health prescriptions for more than 291,000 people and over 508,000 non-surgical treatments. As part of the Right to Health project Sightsavers has also worked with the government to draft national guidelines on how to make eye health accessible to all, which include recommendations to help guide policy, institutionalise inclusive eye health within the wider health system and improve the quality of services, leading to lasting policy change.
People with disabilities and others who traditionally face barriers to health service access were reached through initiatives which included:
working with the government and partners to raise awareness of the importance of eye health
community-based screenings
improved health facility accessibility
training health workers on disability, sign language and gender inclusion
Syeda Asma Rashida added: “It is now the responsibility of the government to continue this work, to endorse and implement the guidelines and make inclusive eye health a reality across the country. The aim is to make eye health services inclusive, equitable, affordable and accessible for everyone.”
The Right to Health programme was active from July 2018-December 2021, but its success has formed the foundations that the government and partners will continue to build on to support marginalised groups and improve eye health services in the country.
The success of programmes such as Right to Health can be seen through the stories of people like Hasina from the Bihari community in Bangladesh. The Bihari community is a minority group of people living on low-income in informal urban settlements, who speak Urdu – a different language to most of the country; all of which act as barriers to accessing healthcare. Deterioration of Hasina’s sight was affecting her ability to care for her grandchild, her family and their income, and her responsibilities at home.
Her son-in-law, Israfil, heard about Right to Health’s free eye screenings when attending a local mosque. After being diagnosed with cataracts at a community screening, Hasina underwent free surgery. “I could not do any household work properly, could not recognise my grandchildren from a bit far, everything seemed very hazy. Now I can see everything very clearly. I am very happy now. After the operation, I am now strong, assured, relaxed. I regained my confidence. It is important that I can take care of myself, can take my food properly.”
About Sightsavers:
Sightsavers is an international organisation that works in more than 30 low and middle income countries to end avoidable blindness, treat and eliminate neglected tropical diseases, and promote equality of opportunity for people with disabilities. Sightsavers vision is of a world where no one is blind from avoidable causes and people with disabilities participate equally in society. It is a registered UK charity (Registered charity numbers 207544 and SC038110).
Globally 2.2 billion people have a vision impairment and of these, at least 1 billion people have a vision impairment or blindness that could have been prevented or is yet to be addressed. This burden weighs more heavily on poorer countries, and on marginalised communities. And projections show that global demand for eye care is set to surge in the coming years.
In the seven decades since its foundation, Sightsavers has:
Supported more than 1.2 BILLION treatments for neglected tropical diseases
Carried out more than 7.7 million cataract operations to restore sight
Carried out more than 196 million eye examinations
Dispensed more than 4.6 million glasses
Sightsavers holds Independent Research Organisation (IRO) status, making them one of the only international non-governmental organisations to hold this status in the UK. Sightsavers conducts high quality research to address global gaps in knowledge and put research findings into practice by feeding them back into the design of programmes.
For more information, please visit www.sightsavers.org
