On June 9 2009, senior executives from international bank, Standard Chartered, were in Durban with project partners ICEE and the Department of Health to celebrate the progress of the ‘Giving Sight to Africa’ project which is funded through the Bank’s global ‘Seeing is Believing’ campaign. The project is the result of a productive collaboration between ICEE, the KwaZulu Natal Department of Health and Standard Chartered Bank.
The Giving Sight to Africa in KwaZulu Natal’ project was launched on World Sight Day, 11 October 2007 and aims to extend eye care services to over 1 million individuals across the KwaZulu Natal province by the end of 2010, in line with the Governments social development agenda. The project is valued at US$1.65 million with Standard Chartered contributing 80% of the funds and will be rolled out over a 3 year period.
Standard Chartered and ICEE executives met with Provincial Minister of Health, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo to celebrate the tangible benefits this innovative project has already delivered to the community, namely:
• 600 nurses based at clinics have received basic equipment and training to provide primary eye care services
• 30 Primary Health Care training facilitators have attended primary eye care training
• The number of optometrists employed by the province has increased from 14 to 22, with 6 being supported directly through the project
• Optometry services are now available at 103 sites in the province as opposed to 49 at the start of the project
• 22 optometrists have attended continuous professional development course
• 38 Ophthalmic nurses have received equipment
• 17 optometry clinics have been supplied with equipment
During the course of the day, executives and Health Department representatives visited a temporary eye testing centre in the KwaMashu Hall where they met 300 pensioners from the surrounding community. The event was jointly hosted and coordinated by the Department of Health, ICEE and the eThekwini Metro. The executives then went to the Edendale Hospital’s eye clinic in Pietermaritzburg, where they meet up with the Provincial Minister of Health, Dr Singongiseni Dhlomo. The optometrist and state of the art eye care equipment at the Edendale Hospital are sponsored by the ‘Giving Sight to Africa – KwaZulu Natal’ project.
Group Finance Director, Standard Chartered, flew from the Bank’s London Headquarters to visit the Bank’s South African project in his role as ‘Seeing is Believing’ Chairman, said, “It gives me great pleasure to be here today to witness the tangible benefits our partnership is already generating for individuals across KwaZulu Natal. Blindness and visual impairment are key issues affecting the educational and economic potential of individuals, their families and their ability to work. Through this unique partnership with ICEE and the Department of Health, we look forward to extending the reach of effective eye care services, and improve the lives of individuals living across KwaZulu Natal.”
Not only will this project benefit the people of KwaZulu Natal, but the concept boasts the potential to be adopted by other provinces, as well as other African countries which use the District Health system. Professor Kovin Naidoo, ICEE Global Programme Director commented, “Africa suffers from disproportionate levels of avoidable blindness. With only 10% of the world’s population it accounts for 19% of the avoidable blindness worldwide. At the recent WHO Health Assembly, a resolution was passed to expand efforts to eliminate avoidable blindness by strengthening national eye-health programmes. Standard Chartered Bank’s Seeing is Believing sponsorship, and the Department of Health’s partnership is helping us to deliver eye care to local communities and build infrastructure to build a sustainable holistic primary healthcare facility.”
Attending the site visit with Standard Chartered Bank and ICEE, was Provincial Minister of Health, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo who said, “Through collaborative efforts, innovative and committed public private partnerships like these, the Department of Health is able to address gaps in primary healthcare, and ensure eye care is an integral component of our primary healthcare approach. We are extremely grateful to proactive corporate support like Standard Chartered Bank, and NGO’s like ICEE – working together; we can attain more for the benefit of over a million people by increasing access to clear sight.”
