GHANA
Our Work in Ghana
Last updated March 2024
We started working in Ghana in 2006. To date, we have partnered with communities across 40 districts to implement projects focused on hospital strengthening, community eye health, integrated eye health and disease control. Our programs are designed to provide a full range of eye health care services, allowing us to address common eye conditions such as cataract and uncorrected refractive error, as well as more complex cases such as diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma.
2023 Highlights
In partnership with the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) Child Blindness Program, we implemented school eye health projects in four districts in the Central Region, benefiting more than 84,000 students, teachers and health care professionals. With additional support from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Latter-day Saint Charities, we brought eye health screenings to 538 schools across another four districts in the region.
We strengthened the outpatient departments of five partner hospitals, by providing essential ophthalmic equipment and training for healthcare staff.
Together with our partners, we declared nine communities as avoidable blindness-free in Mfantseman and Awutu Senya districts, bringing our total to 10. The National Eye Care Coordinator of Ghana Health Service commended our approach and urged other organizations to implement similar strategies.
Across our countries of work, our community-based approach enables us to link people to primary health care services in addition to primary eye care services. In 2023 in Ghana, 6,600 children were linked to services for immunizations and vitamin A supplementations, and nearly 16,000 women were connected with pre- or post-natal services.
Watborg Eye Services
We have established Watborg Eye Services in 2006 and the facility is operated by Dr. Boateng Wiafe, our technical advisor. Dr. Bo has completed thousands of cataract surgeries and provided training for hundreds of eye health care personnel in Africa.
Dr. Bo also served as principal investigator and lead researcher for the first ever Blindness and Vision Impairment study in Ghana, commissioned by Operation Eyesight. We developed a methodology and approach that is reliable and cost-effective, working with Ghana Health Service and other partners. The findings of this study helped us to determine the prevalence of blindness and vision impairment in Ghana, and plan and advocate for eye health in the country.
2023 Impact
2,643
Pairs of eyeglasses dispensed
2,153
Sight-saving surgeries
15,620
Eye exams
14,821
People screened through door-to-door surveys
114,360
Students and school staff screened through eye health programs
Learn more about our work in Ghana in 2023.
2022 Impact
2,213
Pairs of eyeglasses dispensed
1,935
Sight-saving surgeries
13,711
Eye exams
22,424
People screened through door-to-door surveys
64,691
Students and school staff screened through eye health programs
Learn more about our work in Ghana in 2022. Read about the country’s first avoidable blindness-free community.
Success stories from Ghana
Our current priorities in Ghana
We continue to work with government and hospital partners to integrate eye health care into Ghana’s primary health care system.
By training healthcare staff and upgrading or establishing facilities, we are helping ensure the delivery of quality and sustainable eye health services.
We continue to build our school eye health screening programs to ensure that children and their families have access to the eye health care they need.
We are exploring new partnerships that will enable us to bring eye health care services to more regions.
How can you help
Contact us today to learn more about philanthropy opportunities in Ghana.
