The Marine Drive Ladies’ Invitational Golf Tournament held in June raised $15,900 for Seva’s eye care programs for in Tanzania and Malawi. The funds will be used to bring sight to African children and women.
Specifically, $4000 will be used to help support the development of a comprehensive eye care program for the children of Malawi and based in the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in the capital city of Blantyre.
Africa has one of the highest rates of childhood blindness in the world and most of that blindness is due to cataract. The children most at risk are those below five years old. Up to 60% die within one year of becoming blind and those who survive can expect to spend on average 40 years without sight. Over 90% of blind children receive no schooling and the great majority will be unable to realize their full potential. Thus, blindness in children accounts for nearly one third of the economic cost of blindness, although it represents less that 4% of the overall magnitude of blindness. The human cost in terms of suffering is immeasurable.
Objectives of this pediatric program include:
- increasing by 50% the number of children referred to the hospital who are blind or severely visually impaired;
- increasing by 50% the number of surgeries for congenital and developmental cataracts each year for the next three years;
- ensuring that 100% of children who need glasses after surgery get them;
- ensuring that over 80% of children receive intraocular lens implants during cataract surgery; and
- ensuring that 100% of children get the follow up they need.
The remaining $11,900 from the golf tournament will be used to support the ‘Sentinel’ system in the Kilimanjaro and Arusha regions of Tanzania. This system was created as a means to reach more women and girls and provide them with the eye care services they require.
Two-thirds of all blind people are women, primarily because they are treated less than half as often as men. This disparity is even more pronounced between girls and boys. Seva Canada has taken explicit leadership in the gender and blindness global initiative. All Seva-led projects work towards achieving gender equity by focusing on overcoming traditional barriers to women’s and girls’ access.
This project focuses on increasing the use of eye care services by women living in the Kilimanjaro and Arusha Regions. This community intervention involves women, identified within their communities as leaders, acting as “sentinels”. Thirty-two women have been trained in counselling, community mobilization, awareness creation and data collection. The sentinels identify women with visual disability in their community and offer appropriate counselling and referral to the nearest eye care services. This model has been very effective and has increased the uptake of eye care services by women and girls by as much as 100% in many areas.
Thank you again to Diane Hardouin, Chair of the tournament and to Committee Members Esther Adamson, Dianne Cook, Sue Biddle, Naz Remtulla, Louise Forsythe, Lynn Neilsen, Carolyn Butt, Margaret Gillis and Michele Holwill. Kudos to David Hardouin and his hardworking group of guys; Tim Tait and his great team of professionals; Wade Hawksworth and his links crew; Haymond Ng and the clubhouse staff; and Ron Pauls and the office personnel. Special thanks to Kara Koszman, and a huge thank-you to Michele Greatrex for her undying support and optimism. Thank you to all the players, donors and sponsors.
