See Again International’s flagship project
A 2019 report by The World Health Organisation on World Blindness notes that problems are increasing and that current modes of service provision cannot address the demand. The focus must be affordable, available, effective services delivered where the need is evident.
The WHO statement harmonises with the See Again International objectives as we continue to grow our project and expand our reach …
The Myanmar Eye Care Project alone has restored the sight of over 350,000 eyes in the 18 years between 2002 and 2020, demonstrating the See Again International service model’s success.
Why choose Myanmar?
Myanmar (Burma) in 2002 had the highest recorded blindness prevalence rate in the world, yet at that time, there were only 200 local eye surgeons. Although they worked diligently, their number was insufficient to address the enormous backlog of preventable and reversible eye diseases.
A donor appealed to Dr Geoff Cohn, who says, “They ask because their need is great! Because the monasteries ask us to help with this ongoing crisis of blindness and provide a suitable hospital! Because the people are imploring us to empower them to help themselves. We care passionately because our local teams and partners do. We help to relieve preventable blindness by providing refraction services and glasses, cataract surgery, injury, and glaucoma management, among other remedies.”
And so, the Myanmar Eye Care Project was inaugurated to help overcome the problem. It is led, with colleagues, by Dr Geoff Cohn, who has determinedly made his life work addressing the rural eyecare backlog in impoverished countries. The large center developed at Tizaung Centre with Sayadaw U Wunthe Pala Linkara restores sight to up to 110 patients per day. Here is part of the waiting room.
By 2020 the project had set up and run several clinics, mainly in monastery-based hospitals, throughout Myanmar. During its first eighteen years, the project provided sight-saving operations to over 300 000 needy patients. The teaching of medical and surgical skills continues, as does sight restoration. All centers provide refraction services and inexpensive spectacles
A child seems unresponsive to light. He is preverbal, and we agree to remove the dense cataracts with no certainty of success. It all seems despairing the next day when he shows no sign of responding to any visual cue. Then Hsu Mon Thaw brings over a soft toy, a kiwi donated by our wonderful Kiwi optometrist Dharshie Jeyaseelan, and he slowly reaches for it.
Smiles and tears all around!
