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HCP Work in Ethiopia Featured on NPR's Global Health and Development blog, Goats and Soda

Feb 28, 2018 | news |

NPR's Global Health and Development Correspondent, Jason Beaubien, reports from high-volume cataract surgical outreach in Ethiopia

In December, NPR's Global Health and Development Correspondent, Jason Beaubien joined HCP Board Member, Dr. Matt Oliva during a high volume cataract outreach event at Bisidimo Hospital in Harar, Ethiopia. Dr. Oliva, who oversees HCP’s efforts in Ethiopia, worked alongside HCP partner Dr. Mandefro Sintayehu, Bisidimo’s Head Ophthalmologist, and his team to provide 1,605 sight restoring surgeries over the course of five days.

The segment focused on the operations and the impact of blindness on patients at the outreach - HCP’s largest to date.

“The blind have descended in droves on the Bisidimo Hospital in Eastern Ethiopia.

The Himalayan Cataract Project is hosting a mass cataract surgery campaign at the medical compound that used to be a leper colony. For one week a team from the nonprofit has set up seven operating tables in four operating rooms and they're offering free cataract surgery to anyone who needs it.

On the first day of the campaign it's clear that the need is great.”

To read the entire Goats and Soda blog post, please visit: http://bit.ly/HCP_2018-npr

"People stop being productive when they get cataracts. And productive people are less productive because they have to take care of their blind family members."

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