16 November 2011

Sightsavers: the Gift of Sight

Update from WildFox Fiona on a field visit to Malawi to see the work of Sightsavers, an international charity supported by the Martin Currie Rob Roy Challenge.

Over the last three years Sightsavers has been one of the beneficiary charities of the Martin Currie Rob Roy Challenge.  Sightsavers are an international charity which works with partners to eliminate avoidable blindness, educate communities on eye health care and also support people who are blind or visually impaired.  One of the countries they work in is Malawi and on our recent visit the WFE team had the opportunity to spend an afternoon with their Country Director, Mercy Masoo, and see the amazing work Sightsavers are doing. 

After learning more about the work of Sightsavers in Malawi our group were taken to Chiradzulu District Hospital, a rural hospital on the outskirts of Blantyre, where we met with the hospital director.  He spoke extremely highly of the work Sightsavers does,  saying, “the implications of the cataract operation on the ground mean more than we can possibly imagine to the individuals and their families.” 

We were honoured to have the opportunity to meet with a number of cataract surgery patients and hear about their experiences and how the surgery has changed their lives.  One women I spoke to was effectively blind for over two years before the cataract surgery successfully restored her sight.  When I asked her what the biggest impact of the surgery has been she talked about how she works in the fields picking tea and couldn’t see what she was doing, so regaining her sight has meant she can go back to work and earn a living.  An excellent example of how restoring sight can pull people out of the cycle of poverty so prevalent in Malawi. 

After speaking to some of the patients we then had the chance to watch a cataract operation.  We we were dressed in hospital scrubs and a face mask before being led into the surgery room.  The doctor let us observe the procedure and talked us through exactly what we was doing.  It was absolutely amazing to watch, you could see the cloudy layer on the eye ball that is the cataract and watch it being carefully removed before being replaced with a new lens.  I’ve never seen anything quite like that, and doubt I ever will again. 

I got a bit of a fright when I thought the eye had been punctured and something shot out but thankfully it was only water being sprayed to clean the eye!  I’m not someone who usually gets squeamish but for some reason I struggled watching the eye operation and am told I had gone a bit white by the end of it. 

The surgery only took a few minutes and 24 hours later, after removing the eye patch, that woman’s world has been changed forever as she embarks on a new life as someone with full vision.  The cost of restoring this woman’s sight through cataract surgery is a mere £17.  In terms of being a cost-effective healthcare intervention, this is classed as one of the best by the World Health Organisation. 

One problem Sightsavers in Malawi face is the limited resources they have in terms of qualified doctors.  Over 2011 they expect 3000 new incidents of cataract but due to resources they can only perform 1400 operations as they are still dealing with a backlog of sight related problems.  They don’t have enough surgeons to carry out the work and are focusing on training more.  Unfortunately, a common problem in Malawi is doctors & nurses train up and then go somewhere else where they can earn more, work in better conditions and lead a better lifestyle.  A rather scary statistic we were told is that there are more Malawian doctors in Manchester than there are in Malawi. 

The money raised for Sightsavers through the Martin Currie Rob Roy Challenge has had such a positive impact on so many individuals, through eye care education, treatment and sight restoring operations such as the one we saw.  As we come to the end of the three year partnership with Sightsavers we can only hope the excellent work they do continues to thrive.  For me personally, one thing this visit changed for me was my feeling towards eye surgery.  In the UK I have always been a registered donor for everything except my cornea but seeing the impact Sightsavers has on so many lives has made me rethink this.