The Calpee-based NGO Visió Sense Fronteres has carried out a total of 148 eye surgeries in its latest campaign in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, one of the largest concentrations of displaced people in Africa, which is home to nearly 300,000 refugees and asylum seekers.
Most of the operations were for cataracts, although patients with pterygium and the after-effects of trachoma were also treated. One of the most notable operations was performed under general anaesthetic on a three-year-old boy with bilateral congenital cataracts, who was able to see for the first time thanks to this operation.
Three ophthalmologists, two nurses, an anaesthetist, three optometrists and a volunteer travelled to this refugee camp. They were assisted by the humanitarian organisation Embracing the World in Kenya, as well as two local nurses who carried out intensive screening in the weeks leading up to the campaign, enabling around 900 people to be examined.
‘The days have been intense and marathon-like, from dawn to dusk, but the dedication of the team—made up of ophthalmologists, optometrists, nurses and local staff—has made it possible to complete all the planned surgeries, deliver 220 pairs of sunglasses for post-operative protection and fit prescription glasses to improve the quality of life of the patients,’ said Visió Sense Fronteres coordinator Isabel Signes, who thanked UNHCR, the Turkana County Government and Calpe Town Council for their collaboration. ‘Thanks to this, we have been able to restore sight — and with it, dignity and hope — to people who had been living in darkness for years, affected by advanced cataracts or other untreated eye conditions,’ she said.
The Kakuma refugee camp, located in north-western Kenya, is home to refugees and asylum seekers mainly from South Sudan and Somalia, but also from other African countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Sudan and Ethiopia, most of whom fled war, violence and persecution in East Africa and the Horn of Africa.
‘The campaign in Kakuma has been a real milestone, not only in terms of clinical results, but also in terms of its human impact: it has literally brought light back to those who need it most,’ he said.