Reflecting on 2015 and looking into 2016: Power of Partnerships

As we launch into the New Year and look forward to all that is ahead, we also wish to take this opportunity to thank our community of supporters, partners and friends who contributed to a fantastic year of sight restoration, clinical training and infrastructure investments in 2015. Our efforts to eradicate preventable and treatable blindness would not be possible without your support – Thank You!

Our success is coupled with that of our partners - the hundreds of local ophthalmologists, nurses and technicians whose training we have facilitated and the many institutions we have supported - each work tirelessly to provide eye care services where they are most needed. A few 2015 highlights from partners:

In Nepal, the Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology examined and treated over 413,000 patients including more than 26,600 surgeries – despite the devastating earthquakes and widespread destruction last spring. Compare this to their first year of operation in 1994, with 1,700 surgeries.

In Ghana, our partners at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital increased total patient screenings by 36% and total surgeries by 21%. In Ethiopia, our partners at the Quiha Zonal Hospital screened over 21,500 patients and provided over 10,000 surgeries in 2015, in addition to hosting trainees from throughout the country, providing mentoring in high-volume cataract surgery.

Expanded Outreach Through Partnership

In 2015, HCP partnered with Dr. Jim Guzek and Rotary Club of Tri-Cities (in Washington) to support the Gifting the Gift of Sight Initiative, led by Ethiopian ophthalmologist Dr. Samuel Bora in partnership with the Abba Philippos Eye Clinic and Daughters of Charity. Together, we are supporting cataract outreach efforts in far western Ethiopia. Earlier this month, Dr. Samuel and his team from Daughters of Charity managed a cataract outreach event in Bonga, Ethiopia providing critical cataract care to patients young and old who were suffering from needless blindness.

Ethiopian Trainees in Nepal and Israel

Dr. Mandefro Sinteyahu and head nurses Marta Yeshitela and Munira Haji-Mohammed from Bisidimo Hospital in Harar, Ethiopia began training courses at Tilganga this month. Dr. Sinteyahu began a 3-month pediatric subspecialty fellowship course to enhance his ability to provide clinical and surgical care for his young patients in Eastern Ethiopia. Nurses Marta and Munira are taking a one-month advanced cataract surgical training and outreach course. HCP began working with Bisidimo in 2014, conducting annual high volume cataract surgical events. The Bisidimo surgical team, including Nurses Marta and Munira, have been working across Ethiopia to share its outreach management and surgical skills with others.

As part of a new exchange program between Assaf HaRofeh Medical Center, Dr. Tesfalem Hagos from Gondar University in Ethiopia traveled to Tel Aviv, Israel to begin his ophthalmology rotation. Working in partnership with Dr. Morris Hartstein, a oculoplastics specialist and the ophthalmology department at Assaf HaRofeh, Dr. Tesfalem will gain exposure to a number of subspecialties not currently available at Gondar, including retina practice.

Read the entire January Newsletter here.