QNA
Doha
Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) has collaborated with international eye care charity Orbis to further cement their cooperation with the aim of supporting the elimination of Trachoma, the world’s leading cause of infectious blindness, and preventing the disease from spreading in Ethiopia.
This collaboration aims to support phase two of the Qatar Creating Vision (QCV) initiative in Ethiopia by providing hundreds of thousands of eye tests, screenings, treatments and surgeries.
The project falls under the QCV initiative and was launched in April 2022. Within the programme’s first year, nearly 40,000 eye screenings were conducted to detect Trachoma and other eye conditions. Consequently, over 2,000 surgeries were performed, providing 1,120 training opportunities for eye health professionals, community leaders and teachers, enabling them to offer comprehensive eye care services.
The QFFD-supported project is working to reduce the incident rate through the second phase of Qatar Creating Vision. This initiative underscores QFFD’s commitment to providing support to enhance eye care services.
Despite its highly contagious nature, Trachoma can be effectively countered through the World Health Organization’s SAFE strategy, which advocates for Surgery, Antibiotics, Facial cleanliness and Environmental improvement.
The painful eye condition affects more women than men, with women accounting for 70 percent of cases. Between October 2022 and March of this year, the programme addressed the gender imbalance by ensuring that 73 percent of individuals receiving surgery for advanced Trachoma were women.
With the support of QFFD, Orbis and partners have provided millions of eye treatments, tests and surgeries through QCV initiative. This initiative lies within QFFD’s commitment on behalf of Qatar to improve the livelihood of communities worldwide, promote sustainable development and support social and economic progress in partner countries.