Florence
Florence is a 65-year-old mother of eight, living in rural South Africa, who had never had her eyes examined. Florence’s husband had been shot dead in front of the family many years ago and two of her children had also recently died leaving her to look after five grandchildren. For this she received a government grant but it was not enough.
After locally trained optometrists provided Florence with +2.50 glasses she said, “I see well, I see very well and I am happy. It looks much brighter and much clearer. I didn’t know what I was going to do because I had no money to check eyes. Thank you.”
The problem for people like Florence is that while 85% of the population in South Africa relies on public health care; only 2% of optometrists work in the public sector. This means there are only around 50 optometrists to meet the needs of 38 million mainly poor people living in rural areas. Can you imagine having 760,000 patients? Most of those people have never seen an eye care professional. In fact 80% of school-going children with uncorrected refractive error do not have the glasses they need, they struggle through school and of course their future is severely restricted – simply for lack of an eye examination and a pair of glasses.
The ‘Vision for a Country: The National Refractive Error Program for South Africa’ project is one of Optometry Giving Sight’s priority programs. Donations from optometrists and their patients will be used to help fund the development of 24 new clinics throughout the country. It is estimated that nearly 100,000 additional people will have access to services once these sites are fully operational. Longer term, the program will achieve sustainability through training of primary eye care personnel, the establishment of outreach clinics and eye care delivery systems, and the distribution and sale of affordable spectacles.
