In Burundi, there is only one ophthalmologist who can operate eye surgery. And pediatric surgery which requires additional training has never been operated in the country.  With poor medical environment, many children go blind even by a simple curable eye infection.

 

Heart to Heart Foundation, in collaboration with Kilimanjaro Centre for Community
Ophthalmology (KCCO) and other international blindness prevention NGOs, conducted a pediatric surgical outreach in Bujumbura, Burundi from March 19th to 30th, 2012.

 

In Bujumbura, the capital city of Burundi, more than 180 children were screened, and 80 children received surgeries and recovered their sights during the outreach.

 

Two pediatric ophthalmologists, Dr. Phoebe Lenhart and Dr. Lee Woodward from USA, joined the outreach and performed childhood cataract surgeries on children. Many local medical staffs were trained on pediatric eye surgeries and they also participated in workshops on pediatric ophthalmology.

 

Heart to Heart Foundation hopes that the outreach could be a good foundation for a solid blindness prevention system in Burundi. And we promise to continue our efforts to eradicate preventable blindness in Africa.