Context
Nigeria has a population of 182.2 million, 50% of whom are children. In this country, blindness is often associated with poverty and lack of access to health services. Indeed, 62% of Nigeria's population lives below the poverty line in 2016 and there are only 16 paediatric ophthalmologists in the whole country for about 81 million suffering children. The majority of these specialists are located in the south of the country, while the northwest region has the second highest prevalence of child blindness in the entire country.
Supported project
In 2019, L'OCCITANE Ireland and the Foundation supported SightSavers in its project to combat preventable childhood blindness in Nigeria.
The aim was to significantly improve the eye care system by creating health facilities for approximately 8 million children in the states of Kaduna, Sokoto and Zamfara who suffer particularly from a shortage of eye specialists. Eye screenings in schools and training of health workers were organized to detect and treat pathologies in children as early as possible. Children suffering from cataracts were also operated on.
Some figures
Budget 20.000 euros
Results 122.177 beneficiaries
Testimony
"Khadija who is seven years old, has been living with cataract since she turned four. Whilst she was brought to hospital, there was no support in place to help her. Her father Bashir worried and cried about her condition, “I have sought help for her on many occasions.”
Khadija has had both eyes operated on in July 2019 at the National Eye Centre Kaduna. Bashir is very happy : ”her future will be bright and she can mingle with other children. As she grow older, she would have had to face segregation because of her poor vision, but that will no longer be a problem.”"Bashir, Khadija's father, a beneficiary
