It’s thought that five million people need medication to protect them against river blindness.
Sightsavers has been working in Mali since 1991, and is fighting these diseases by distributing medication that can prevent them spreading.
We’re also working to reduce blindness in Mali by training eye specialists and health workers, and recruiting community volunteers to distribute medication. We educate communities about good hygiene, carry out surgery for patients suffering from cataracts and trachoma, and screen people for refractive error.
Sightsavers’ social inclusion work in Mali aims to empower who are visually impaired, enabling them to participate in their community. We provide support to help children with visual impairments to go to school, offer eye health consultations and monitor the progress of each child that is enrolled.
Sightsavers mobile surgeon Boubacar Fomba travels to rural Mali to treat patients in the field and gather vital data about trachoma.
Read Boubacar’s story
As part of Sightsavers' inclusive education project, we’ve worked with a linguistic expert to translate braille into the local language.
Read the story
Sayon suffered for years with trachoma, and risked going blind. After a straightforward operation, she is now free from this painful disease.
Read Sayon’s story
In Côte d’Ivoire, eye health staff have been working to ensure eye surgery is COVID-safe. Plus news from Pakistan, Burkina Faso, Ghana and more
To find out the challenges of teaching children, particularly those with disabilities, during health crises we spoke with Abdul Kandeh Turay, a teacher in Rokulan, Sierra Leone.
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As part of Sightsavers' inclusive education project, which supports children with visual impairments across Mali, we’ve worked with linguistic expert Dr Issiaka Ballo to translate braille into the local language for the first time.
More than 20,000 people are to be screened in the first surveys since NTD programmes were put on hold because of COVID-19.
As the 17-year-long Seeing is Believing project comes to an end, Imran Khan goes behind the scenes to reveal why it has made such an impact.
Following rigorous safety measures, we have been able to restart our work fighting disease and saving sight all over the world.
Sightsavers project officer Eric Musa visits Marie, who has been blind since birth, to find out how she’s continued her education throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sightsavers staff provide a first-hand insight into our work with ministries of health, partner hospitals and volunteers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The accolades, from the the International Association and Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), recognise and celebrate young and upcoming staff and volunteers within the eye health sector.
Sightsavers staff provide a first-hand insight into the five ways we’re making sure children with disabilities aren’t left behind during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As we thank all our health workers on World Health Day, meet six who have worked with Sightsavers to help improve eye care for people in their communities.