African visionaries

UK charity Vision Aid Overseas last year launched a programme designed to bring about a long-term solution to Ethiopia's desperate shortage of eye care professionals. Suzanne Gregory reports

To say that eye care professionals are a rarity in Ethiopia is something of a gross understatement. The nation has just 76 ophthalmologists and a handful of optometrists serving a population of 76 million. Understandably, they struggle to care for Ethiopia's estimated 875,000 blind people and 2.6 million people with low vision. Yet for many of those with vision problems, a simple refraction and a pair of spectacles could resolve their plight.

Last year, UK charity Vision Aid Overseas launched a new project to address the severe lack of optical professionals and facilities in Ethiopia. VAO has been working in Ethiopia for five years, organising between four and six trips a year with its country partners, Grarbet Ledekuman (GBL) and Orbis Ethiopia. Following the establishment of an optical workshop at the GBL health centre in the town of Butajira, it was decided that a group of Ethiopian nurses should be trained in refraction techniques.