Ethiopia

When we started working in Ethiopia in 1998, the population was around 65 million. More than two decades later, it has nearly doubled to 123 million.

The eye care situation in Ethiopia is one of the worst in the world according to the National Survey on Blindness, Low Vision, and Trachoma. It shows 1.6% of people in Ethiopia live with blindness, and 3.7% with low vision.

Cataract (50%), trachoma (11%), corneal opacities (8%), refractive error (8%), and glaucoma (5%) were reported as the leading causes of blindness. Likewise, cataract (42%), and refractive error (33.%) were reported as leading causes of low vision. Childhood blindness is estimated to have a prevalence of 0.1%.

These figures, from the National Survey, translate into a staggering 5.4 million people living with blindness and vision loss.

When Orbis began working in Ethiopia in 1998, there were only 54 ophthalmologists. There are now 200 ophthalmologists, saving sight across the country.

Thanks to our supporters, and the hard work and dedication of our local staff and program partners, in the past 26 years we played a leading role in:

• Delivering 106 million doses of the trachoma-fighting-antibiotic, azithromycin, in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region (SNNPR)
• Achieving the elimination threshold for trachoma in 50 districts across the SNNPR, as of 2023
• Conducting more than 236,000 trachomatous trichiasis surgeries
• Increasing cataract surgeries from 5,000 in 1995 to 72,000 by 2017 (by providing training and support, and helping introduce new techniques that are now adopted universally across the country)
• Helping establish 515 optometrists
• Constructed 131 latrine blocks and installed 36 water points
• Produced more than 120 major research papers, 30 of which were published in peer-reviewed journals
• Hosted five Flying Eye Hospital visits between 2003 and 2018
• Established the Eye Bank of Ethiopia, the only eye bank in sub-Saharan Africa other than in South Africa

With your continued support, we can implement a model for comprehensive rural eye care that addresses critical gaps through capacity building, healthcare technology and advocacy. We will train more community health care workers in all aspects of eye care, from awareness of services, identification, diagnosis, referral and treatment.

We will look to face the enormous challenge of trachoma in Ethiopia by implementing the World Health Organisation's SAFE strategy (eyelid surgery, antibiotics, face cleanliness and environmental improvement). We will continue to help reduce the risk of trachoma by training nurses to perform trichiasis surgeries at primary healthcare units and building awareness by teaching community health workers, teachers, local women’s group leaders and community leaders about eye health.

We have enjoyed great successes in Ethiopia over the past 20 years but there is still a huge amount of work to be done to further improve the quality of eye care:

We must do more if we are to help Ethiopia reach its target of eradicating blinding trachoma by 2020. While we are succeeding in reducing the spread of infection in our current regions, we need to take on more districts to expand our trachoma elimination and SAFE strategy roll out. That means we need to secure more funding to expand and cover the whole more of the country.

Ethiopia is in desperate need of more qualified ophthalmologists. Currently there are only five academic institutions offering 25 residents in ophthalmology training each year - this is simply not enough to fight blindness in the country.

We need further support to train the next generation of eye health specialist as we invest in training programs. The doctors we have trained over the past 20 years are now the teachers and we need to create more homegrown opportunities to train the next generation of eye health professionals.

We face the enormous challenge of trachoma in Ethiopia by implementing the World Health Organisation’s SAFE strategy (eyelid surgery, antibiotics, face cleanliness and environmental improvement). We continue to help reduce the risk of trachoma by training nurses to perform trichiasis surgeries at primary healthcare units and build awareness by teaching community health workers, teachers, local women’s group leaders and community leaders about eye health.

We have a long-standing partnership with the Federal Ministry of Health, through which we work to develop and strengthen the capacity of existing government health providers to deliver eye care services at all levels.

• Federal Ministry of Health
• The Charities and Societies Agency
• Regional Health, Education, Finance and Economic Development Bureau
• District level sector offices
• ICTC
• NCBP