By addressing avoidable visual impairments, the programme, which is funded by the UK government through UK Aid Match, aims to reduce poverty and contribute to achieving the global Sustainable Development Goals.
People living with disabilities in Bangladesh and Pakistan experience profound challenges. Disability exacerbates poverty for the whole family because of increased expenses, lack of income (due to caring responsibilities) and reduced opportunities (due to social exclusion). In Bangladesh, for each person an estimated 10.1 years of health is lost as a result of disability; in Pakistan, this is 9.6 years (source: WHO and World Bank World Report on Disability). This is particularly acute for women and girls with disabilities, as they face additional challenges because of gender inequality.
This can be addressed through appropriately targeted health services and the development of approaches which include disability and gender considerations. The Right to Health programme aims to contribute to building a society where all people can access services, and where lessons learned can affect other health areas, in line with the UK Department for International Development’s disability framework.
Services will be targeted to reach some of the most neglected and hardest-to-reach populations who are unlikely to benefit from standard health care services. The project will be delivered in partnership with local partner eye care hospitals and ministries of health at national and district levels. To reach the most marginalised groups, the programme will run inclusive eye health screening camps, and targeted outreach will be developed in collaboration with local disabled people’s organisations (DPOs), community-based organisations and self-help groups.
The programme will operate in Rangpur, Rajshahi and Dhaka divisions in Bangladesh, and Baluchistan, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces in Pakistan.
Read how the programme is transforming local health care so people with disabilities are no longer excluded.
Read moreIn February 2020, Sightsavers' Kirsty Bridger visited Bangladesh to learn how we organise our eye screening camps.
Yousub has come up against decades-long hardships, but with with a sight-saving cataract operation, life is finally looking better. Here, he shares his remarkable story.
In Bangladesh, we know the best way to make sure no one is left behind is to take health information directly to their doorstep. Enter the miking team!
Hasina lives in a camp in northern Bangladesh which has been demolished twice. Since developing cataracts, her fears of being homeless again were heightened.
On international Women’s Day, Sightsavers' Asma Rashida highlights the additional prejudices women with disabilities face, and the important work of the Right to Health project.
Shamima, who is hearing and speech impaired, has developed a unique way to communicate with her close family.