Eye Care Health
Statistics reveal that 2.5 million Ugandans had both moderate and severe eye-related impairments. Approximately 150,000 are completely blind (0.4%). The ministry of health report 2018 indicated that 57.1% of blindness in Uganda is caused by cataracts, while uncorrected refractive errors are the commonest cause of visual impairments.
By August 2017, Uganda had only 48 ophthalmologists with eight in retirement and half of these specialists working in the capital city, Kampala. This means that the majority of eye care services in the country are provided by non-ophthalmologists.
With more ophthalmologists retiring, this has left an entire population of 42 million people in dire need of specialized eye health care. The initial lack of standardized eye conditions management, and poor representation of Eye specialists at the Ministry of health makes the dire situation even worse.
A shortage in trained eye physicians is a huge burden in Uganda with the country’s failure to achieve the ratio of 4 ophthalmologists per million population recommended by the World Health Organization
The sad situation in Uganda, is that many eye conditions still go undiagnosed or untreated and this has contributed to the high burden of blindness, caused by preventable causes. Much as most vision problems can be recovered by proper prevention and timely treatment, there are many people losing vision daily due to poor living conditions. Therefore, it’s upon this background that jungle medical missions added eye health care on its five core programs.
Our eye health camps are scheduled on a monthly basis throughout the year. The clinic stations include registration, triage, refraction and dispensing.
Common Eye Health Problems We Address
During our camps some of the common eye conditions we deal with are:
- Cataracts
- Uncorrected refractive errors such as myopia, hypermetropia, astigmatism, and presbyopia
- Primary open-angle Glaucoma
- Diabetic retinopathy
- Refractive errors
- Low vision
- Retinoblastoma
- Conjunctivitis, the foreign body of the eye
- Keratitis, conjunctivitis of the new-born
- Trachoma, eye injuries and Styre.
What We Do
We combine traditional ophthalmology with modern advanced diagnostic to give every patient comprehensive treatment. At our eye health camps, we provide:
- Comprehensive ophthalmic treatment
- Visual acuity testing, basic evaluations
- Eye examinations
- Diagnostic investigations
- Optometry
- Advanced laser therapy
- Dispensing medicines and spectacles
- Case Management: Through our partnership with Mengo Hospital and its excellence in eye care, we’re able to refer our patients for specialized interventions.
Get Involved
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You can share your skills with us.
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You can come to Uganda and be part of our team while we provide health care to the vulnerable people in Uganda.
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You can also share your financial resources to support an eye health medical outreach.
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You can also volunteer your time wherever you are. Fill in your details here and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible!
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You can partner with us
