Childhood Cataract & Low Vision
KCCO is a leader in the development of comprehensive childhood blindness activities throughout Africa. With successful efforts by African Ministries of Health and their NGO partners, vitamin A-and measles-related corneal blindness has been rapidly decreasing in many countries. Recent population based-surveys have revealed that congenital and developmental cataract are common causes of blindness in children.
Simply training a paediatric ophthalmologist and paediatric anesthetist is not sufficient to meet the needs of children requiring intervention. KCCO has been working, with support from a number of organizations (e.g. Academy for Educational Development, Dark & Light Blind Care, Light for the World, and Seva Canada), toward implementing strategies to:
- Identify and refer children who need intervention
- Provide support for transportation to hospital
- Ensure that children and their parents received good quality counseling
- Improve follow up for post-surgery optical correction and low vision service provision
- Ensure that children enrolled in schools for the blind or annexes receive the most appropriate clinical and educational support.
Below you will find KCCO’s reports on ongoing research and activities regarding childhood cataract and low vision, as well as a list of relevant publications. For more information you can contact our Childhood Blindness & Low Vision Coordinator Elizabeth Kishiki: ekishiki@kcco.net
Childhood Blindness Resources and Publications
Utilizing a multi-faceted approach, we assist and support community-based programmes to reduce blindness from cataract, trachoma, childhood blindness, refractive errors, and diabetic retinopathy.