Bangladesh Childhood Cataract Campaign in Chittagong (BCCC)
| Coverage |
Chittagong Division: Feni, Comilla, Noakhali, Laximpur, and Chandpur Districts |
| Duration |
2005 to 2008 |
Situation
According to Sight Savers International, there is an estimate of 824 000 blind people in Bangladesh , among them are 40 000 children. One third of the blindness in these children is caused by cataracts. Sight Savers International intends to reach 10 000 cataract affected children, and support 20 000 surgeries by 2008. YPSA puts in a tremendous effort to improve and rehabilitate the lives of cataract blind children by working in the Chittagong Division.
Objectives
- To develop a wide non-governmental partnership for project implementation
- To properly identify the reason and nature of blindness of children in the proposed working area
- To arrange and organize necessary medical treatment for the identified cataract affected children
- To follow up the direct beneficiaries by providing proper medical treatment
Initiative
In order to address the challenge of identifying and reaching cataract affected children, YPSA focuses on two major activities:
1. Identifying and Referring Cataract Blind Children
Since a lot of rural areas do not yet have access to health care, YPSA's activities include identifying cataract children and entering them in a database for Sight Savers International. In addition there is also:
- Case finding process and awareness raising at the local level
- Medical and surgical treatment
- Follow up of all cataract cases
2. Partnership Development
To facilitate the process of reaching as many cataract blind children as possible, YPSA ensures project implementation by:
- Developing partnerships, orientation and training at the field level with 80 partnership non governmental organizations (PNGOs)
- Developing partnership with governmental organizations (GOs)
Outcomes
The Bangladesh Childhood Cataract Campaign has been able to work with an estimate of 1406 cataract affected children. YSPA also interacts with 2817 children suffering from other types of blindness. Since 2006, many accomplishments have taken place. At a screening camp in 2006, ophthalmologists working with YSPA identified 169 blind children; 27 cataract children were identified for cataract surgery and 24 of them attended.
In total the BCCC has identified more than 710 blind people, in addition to 66 cataract blind people. In the upcoming year, they hope to identify and refer 1200 blind and 400 cataract blind children at the Chittagong and Parhartali Hospital .
Supporting Organization
Sight Savers International
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