We began working in Ethiopia in 2018 through our work with Partners in Education Ethiopia. Over our six years of working we have built partnerships with ophthalmic departments at five hospitals, which have become key access points for those seeking eye health care across the country.
In 2024, we launched a community eye health project in Debre Work, where we surveyed 14,030 people in a Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) framework through door-to-door surveys.
Our public health programs reached 33,424 people, and we trained 17 frontline workers in primary eye care. Through our school eye health program, we covered eight schools, trained 22 teachers, screened 4,442 students and dispensed 15 pairs of eyeglasses
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Our hospitals and four vision centres all continue to provide quality eye health care. This means that after a surgery, vision is measured to be of a particular acuity (quality of vision). In 2024, based on acuity after treatment data, we confirmed that all of our hospital partners and vision centres were providing quality eye health care.
Our community health programs incorporate integrated eye health. We trained 15 primary health-care workers in primary eye care, linked 56 children under five years old to primary health centres for regular immunization, and linked 96 women with services for pre- and post-natal care. With the support of Partners in Education Ethiopia, we implemented a WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) project to bring water to five locations, serving 50,000 people
