Eye Clinic Partners
Prior to partnering with an eye clinic, Unite For Sight rigorously analyzes the clinic, establishes a pilot program, and assesses the impact and results. We partner with clinics that share our ideology of proper standards for community care and eye health, and we help them develop an outreach infrastructure that provides cost-effective care to patients living in extreme poverty. We support our partner eye clinics by investing human and financial resources in their social ventures and encouraging the longevity of their efforts.
Partner Eye Clinics
Ghana
- Charity Eye Clinic
- Crystal Eye Clinic
- Eye Clinic of Tamale Teaching Hospital
- Save The Nation's Sight Clinic
Honduras
- COVA Eye Clinic
India
- AB Eye Institute
- Dr. Shroff's Charity Eye Hospital
- Kalinga Eye Hospital
- Uma Eye Clinic
Partnership Criteria
Sustainable Eye Clinic
"When we want to help the poor, we usually offer them charity. Most often we use charity to avoid recognizing the problem and finding a solution for it... Charity is no solution to poverty. Charity only perpetuates poverty by taking the initiative away from the poor. Charity allows us to go ahead with our own lives without worrying about those of the poor. It appeases our consciences."(1)--Mumhammed Yunus, 2006 Nobel Laureate
Sustainability is very important, especially in the healthcare setting. In the locations where Unite For Sight partners with local eye clinics, the eye clinics are oftentimes the only providers of eye care for a very large geographical area. The population of the area may rely on that one clinic to meet all of their eye care needs. Therefore, it is of vital importance that eye clinics retain their ability to operate autonomously through a sustainable business model. Clinics are businesses that contribute to economic growth and job creation while providing health services. In addition to providing charitable care, local clinics must utilize market-driven approaches to achieve long-term success and impact. A clinic should operate as a business in a competitive marketplace because relying solely on charitable contributions and grants does not enable a clinic to be sustainable or locally competitive.
While it is obviously very important for clinics to have a sustainable business model, most eye clinics in the developing world do not have the financial or human capital to provide eye care to non-paying patients in rural villages, refugee camps, and slums. Unite For Sight helps existing eye clinics develop outreach infrastructure so that free care can be provided to patients living in extreme poverty. Meanwhile, the clinic’s private business continues as an enterprise independent of the Unite For Sight-supported outreach programs. Having this strong base of independence and sustainability comes from good business practices, which is why Unite For Sight partners exclusively with existing eye clinics that also provide care to regular paying patients.
(1)Yunus, M. Banker to the Poor: Micro-lending and the battle against world poverty. New York: Public Affairs, 1999: 237.
Quality Care
While sustainability and social entrepreneurship strategies are important, the quailty of the healthcare provided by the eye clinic is a must. We therefore assess the clinic's quality of care and patient outcomes before developing a partnership. Unite For Sight works with partner eye clinics to establish outreach programs that apply best practices in community eye health.
Social Impact
We employ social entrepreneurship solutions to eliminate preventable blindness. We require that a partner eye clinic demonstrate a significant commitment to providing community outreach services that will eliminate patient barriers to care. This delivery of services to patients in rural villages and slums must generate social impact and measurable social outputs, including a considerable increase in the clinic's cataract surgical rate. Comparison measurements are made for cataract surgical rate before and after the introduction of the Unite For Sight partnership.
We also track the number of patients with significantly improved vision after surgery. Unite For Sight requires extensive documentation from each eye clinic partner, including every Unite for Sight-sponsored patient's preoperative and postoperative visual acuity data, which is analyzed to ensure the quality, effectiveness, and social impact of the programs.
Partnership Guidelines
We do not solicit requests for partnerships. Partnership requests are submitted by talented local ophthalmologists. Prior to partnering with an eye clinic, Unite For Sight rigorously analyzes the clinic, establishes a pilot program, and assesses the impact and results.