International development organisation The Fred Hollows Foundation will next year celebrate its fifth year of operations in the Philippines.
The Fred Hollows Foundation focuses on avoidable blindness in more than 25 countries. In the Philippines, The Foundation has brought sight-saving work to the provinces of Tarlac and Surigao del Norte.
The Foundation’s Philippines Country Manager Mardi Mapa-Suplido said efforts in the Philippines were focused on ending avoidable blindness through the Community Eye Health Program.
“Globally, four out of five people who are blind don’t need to be. With the right treatment, people can see again.
In 2017, The Foundation screened more than 101,000 people and provided more than 23,000 eye treatments.
Ms Mapa-Suplido said one of the great strengths of The Fred Hollows Foundation was its commitment to building the capacity of doctors, nurses, health workers and teachers so they can take the lead in improving eye health at the local level.
“Our founder Fred Hollows was an ophthalmologist and humanitarian who was determined to teach the teachers and build a skilled eye health work force.
“In 2017, The Foundation trained more than 812 health workers and teachers and educated 17,970 community members about eye health.
“Next year The Fred Hollows Foundation celebrates five years working in the Philippines, and we will continue our efforts to create a future where no-one is needlessly blind.”
Case study: Making waves in the Philippines
The Foundation has made waves on the surfing island of Siargao, southern Philippines.
Local residents – from fisher-folk to surfers – had their eyes checked at four eye screenings that were held throughout the island earlier this year.
One of those eager to have her eyes checked was 84-year-old Constancia. Life hasn’t always been kind to Constancia; she has been widowed three times and now lives alone in a small wooden house. She receives support from a local co-operative and makes ends meet by cleaning houses and ocassionally some of the island’s resorts.
But Constancia has cataract in her right eye, limiting her ability to work and care for herself. She is looking forward to taking more cleaning jobs once she can see again.
Although she can’t remember exactly when her vision started deteriorating, Constancia does remember crossing to the mainland 20 years ago, to have her left eye operated on.
But despite that successful operation, Constancia still practices local medicinal beliefs, extracting the sap of a special weed known locally as tawa-tawa. She drops the sap to her right eye, believing it will melt away the cataract.
Unfortunately, the herbal medication has done nothing to improve her condition and she is hopeful that The Foundation will help give her the sight-saving operation she needs.
Two of Constancia’s daughters are still alive but live far away. She visits them once in a while along with her 10 grandchildren and is very much looking forward to seeing them all again clearly.
Initiatives like these allow eye problems like Constancia’s to be detected early on at the community level and then be referred to the district and provincial hospitals for immediate treatment. “A lot of people have been helped by The Foundation,” said Shalom Dapar-Sumaguila from the Department of Social Welfare and Development, one of The Fred Hollows Foundation’s field partners in The Philippines.
“We see heads of families who can now see and return to their jobs and earn again, and children who stopped schooling who can now study again. It’s really an accomplishment. It cannot be done by [our] Department alone, so we really need to converge with other organisations, like The Fred Hollows Foundation.”