Preventable blindness caused by cataracts and uncorrected refractive errors remains a significant community health problem throughout rural Africa. Eye conditions in rural regions are disproportionately common due to factors such as dietary deficiencies, intense UV exposure near the equator, poor sanitation exacerbated by drought, and a severe shortage of eye care professionals. Many communities lack access to timely eye care services.
Since 2011, our organization, in collaboration with Visio Sans Fronteres, has been conducting free cataract surgeries in impoverished and rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa. The cataract camps bring together ophthalmologists, optometrists, and nurses from various countries, particularly Spain, who volunteer their expertise to reach underserved populations in slums and remote tribal communities. The camps collaborate with local medical and community service organizations to ensure that the most vulnerable individuals receive critical care.
In 2024, in parallel to the cataract camps and at the request of Visio Sans Fronteres, CWEGE launched a vocational training project for rural community members, particularly women, in the early detection of eye conditions.
Training community members as eye care specialists in the detection and referral of vision problems can make a lasting impact in reducing preventable blindness by catching eye conditions early and improving quality of life in underserved regions.
The Amrita Eye Care Champions course was co-designed by Ammachi Labs, CWEGE and Visio Sense Fronteres to train community health volunteers. Using Ammachi labs expertise in digital learning and CWEGE’S success with life enrichment education, and Visio Sans Fronteres ocular care guidance, a curriculum was designed for low literate populations. A pilot of the course was conducted in October 2024 followed by refinements of the curriculum and the creation of a12 animated video series, which now forms the foundation of the curriculum. In October 2025, the revised course debuted as a Train the Trainers course for 32 optometry students at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology in Kakamega Kenya. These 32 students, as part of their community practice course, will each train 20 village community health volunteers in eye care. A key objective of the course is to build a scalable and sustainable framework for delivering the curriculum. Utilizing Ammachi labs Skillelabs platform, the eye care class participants can complete the curriculum digitally on smartphones, tablets, or laptops making the training globally accessible. The curriculum will be taught in tandem with each cataract camp sponsored by Visio Sans Fronteres in 9 countries of Africa and Latin America empowering individuals not only with skills but with the vision for a healthier tomorrow.
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