Programs

At New Sight Eye Clinic, we have developed many programs to respond to the prevalent problem of blindness and visual impairment in Liberia. Click one of the sub-pages to learn more about each.

The Problem

Blindness is a tragic ailment that affects 0.5% of the population in Liberia. Untreated cataract blindness accounts for 60.4% and an additional 16% is due to glaucoma. About 23.9% of people are unaware that treatment is possible and 21.1% are not able to afford the cost of surgery and treatment which are huge barriers to surgical uptake. Recommendations from the recent rapid assessment of avoidable blindness in Liberia suggest that effective strategies need to be develop to address avoidable causes of blindness (e.g. cataract, glaucoma, surgical complication, refractive error, etc) since they account for 72.2% of all blindness in Liberia. (RAAB Survey, MoHSW, 2012)

The Causes

The most common causes for blindness include:

cataract (a clouding of the lens in the eye), the major cause of blindness 60.4%, severe visual impairment 62.6%, and visual impairment 35.2%
glaucoma (16%)
refractive errors
corneal opacities
others

The Solution

Through eye examination, treatment, and surgery in rural and urban communities, many forms of blindness can be corrected and through education, they can be prevented. With your support, we can provide for even more people in need of help.

The Situation

Liberia is in major deficit of eye health care workers to treat the growing problem of blindness.

Category of Eye Health Workers	Number Available	Number Required
Ophthalmic Nurses/ OMA ..............	15	60
Cataract Surgeons .......................	5	35
Ophthalmologists .........................	5	16
Optometrists ...............................	0	70
Optometrist Assistants .................	2	70
Ophthalmic Equipment Technicians..	2	35
Community Ophthalmic Nurses.......	0	700
Optical Workshop Technicians .......	2	70

Counties with No Eye Health Services

Currently 7 out of 15 counties in Liberia have no eye health services. These counties are:

Margibi
Grand Cape Mount
Bomi
Grand Bassa County
River Cess County
Lofa County
Gbarpolu