It is expected to serve over four million children under 15 years over a four -year period.
StanChart is implementing the ‘Seeing is Believing’ programme in collaboration with the ministries of health and education in three East African countries - Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
Eye care initiatives in East Africa have received a boost after the Standard Chartered Bank allocated Sh400 million towards children healthcare.
The funds will be channelled through StanChart’s social responsibility programme dubbed 'Seeing is Believing', which seeks to stem avoidable blindness among children in the region.
"This programme adopts a holistic view of eye care. It addresses children’s needs, creates awareness on eye issues, builds networks for correct diagnosis of eye ailments and trains health workers handling various eye conditions,” said Lamin Manjang, StanChart Kenya chief executive on Monday when he donated eye care equipment worth Sh20 million to the Ministry of Health.
It is expected to serve over four million children under 15 years over a four -year period.
The Cabinet Secretary for Health, James Macharia, said that the medical equipment had come at a right time when the ministry was addressing various challenges facing eye patients across the country. (See video)
He said that the equipment – to be used for early diagnosis and management of eye problems among children – will be distributed to selected public hospitals designed to deliver eye health services in Nairobi, Kisumu, Mombasa, Eldoret, Kitale, Malindi, Narok, Nyeri and Migori.
Mr Macharia noted that eye ailments are ranked eighth among the top diseases that cause morbidity (illness) in Kenya.
Government statistics indicate that childhood blindness accounts for about six per cent of the total cases of blind people in the country. It is thus one of the priorities for Vision 2020, a global initiative that aims at eliminating avoidable blindness by the year 2020.
The Health CS added that currently, Kenya has about 15 thousand blind children and another 30 thousand with severe visual impairment. “This greatly interferes with their development and education.”
Mr Macharia stated that hindrance to quality child eye care in Kenya is associated with inadequate awareness of causes, inaccessible eye health services, late detection of ailments, shortage of skilled personnel and poor social cultural practices.
StanChart is implementing the ‘Seeing is Believing’ programme in collaboration with the ministries of health and education in three East African countries - Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
Mr Manjang noted that through the annual Standard Chartered Nairobi International Marathon, now in its 12th year, the bank has raised more than one million dollars which has sponsored cataract, glaucoma and trauma related surgeries affecting the eyesight.
“This initiative has helped restore the sight of over 4,500 children in Kenya through various hospitals,” he said.
Mr Manjang stated that the bank has also funded the expansion of eye clinics at Kapsabet, Kapenguria and Iten District hospitals.
“These clinics now have consultation rooms, theatres and state of the art eye equipment,” he stated.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), some of the leading causes of chronic blindness include cataract, glaucoma, cornea problems, diabetes, trachoma, and eye conditions in children.
The United Nations agency notes that age-related blindness is increasing throughout the world, as is blindness due to uncontrolled diabetes. On the other hand, blindness caused by infection is decreasing, as a result of public health action.
According to WHO, three-quarters of all blindness can be prevented or treated.
