Ghana Outreach Event Sets Record

In early October, HCP supported an outreach event in Cape Coast, Ghana in honor of World Sight Day.

The surgical team included ophthalmologists from Cape Coast Teaching Hospital and KATH, as well as Dr. Bo Wiafe, Watborg Eye Service’s Medical Director, and HCP volunteer ophthalmologist Dr. John Welling who oversees HCP’s Ghana program. During this one-week outreach event, the team provided 713 sight-restoring surgeries. Cape Coast Teaching Hospital is a new partner of HCP and was the first facility to receive training from the new outreach training team at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi.

Our expanded efforts in Ghana have been made possible with the generous support of key donors, including Halma, plc; Latter-Day Saints Charities; and Alder Home Security. Through Halma's Gift of Sight campaign, the corporation collected contributions from their 45 companies around the world and amassed $200,000 dollars to support cataract surgical outreach throughout Ghana. Latter-Day Saints Charities are providing support to equip and train Ghanaian partner surgeons and provide thousands of sight-restoring cataract surgeries. Alder Home Security has supported HCP's work in Ghana through the provision of volunteers and professional photographers over the last two years.

Dr. Oscar Debrah, HCP Ghana Country Representative stated, "We set an initial goal of 600 cataract surgeries for the Cape Coast outreach and were ecstatic to surpass that number to set a record of 713 surgeries during the 5-day outreach. This achievement supports HCP’s overall goal of performing 10,000 sight-restoring surgeries in Ghana this year. The work we are doing has a real impact on the lives of people here and though we broke a national record, we still have more work to continue bringing people the joy of sight restoration.”