We See Results With Measurable Impact
Eye Care Services Provided To: 1,300,000
|
We track the number of patients living in poverty who receive eye care through Unite For Sight outreach programs. Unite For Sight invests human and financial resources to develop each eye clinic's outreach infrastructure, and the programs are led, managed, and delivered by the local eye clinic's ophthalmic staff. All of the eye care is provided by the local ophthalmic nurses, optometrists, and ophthalmologists. We evaluate the number of patients living in poverty who are receiving surgery by the local eye clinics, and we track the number of patients with significantly improved vision after surgery. Unite For Sight requires extensive documentation from each eye clinic partner, including every patient's preoperative and postoperative visual acuity data, which is analyzed to ensure the quality, effectiveness, and social impact of the programs. We assess the increase in each eye clinic's cataract surgical rate, targeted for patients living in poverty. Comparison measurements are made for cataract surgical rate before and after the introduction of the Unite For Sight partnership. Learn more about why measuring outcomes are essential in global health: http://www.uniteforsight.org/global-health-university/outcomes |
We measure outcomes, not just outputs.Unite For Sight Builds Local Capacity: Ghana Case Study Example
Unite For Sight significantly builds local capacity by investing in its local eye clinic partners. There are a total of 45 ophthalmologists in Ghana, and Unite For Sight's four partner ophthalmologists in Ghana provided close to 50% of all surgeries in Ghana to patients living in extreme poverty. This 50% does not include the other surgeries provided by the Ghanaian ophthalmologists for their standard paying patients who receive care independent of Unite For Sight.
Prior to Unite For Sight's partnership, each ophthalmologist provided approximately 500 cataract surgeries per year to standard patients who are able to access and afford care. This surgical capacity is in line with Ghana's current surgical average, which is 405 surgeries per year. In order to reach Ghana's Vision 2020 goal, each ophthalmologist is expected to provide 1066 cataract surgeries per year. After Unite For Sight's partnership, each eye clinic partner provides an average of 2500 cataract surgeries each year. This total includes continued surgical care for their standard patients, coupled with Unite For Sight-supported surgical care for patients living in extreme poverty who are otherwise unable to access or afford care.
Eye Care in Tamale, Ghana
In Tamale, Ghana, ophthalmologist Dr. Wanye is the only eye doctor for 2 million people in the entire region. Prior to working with Unite For Sight, Dr. Wanye often went months without performing a single cataract surgery because the community members could not afford the cost of surgery. Since 2005, Unite For Sight has provided human and financial resources for Dr. Wanye's programs. With the support of Unite For Sight, Dr. Wanye now provides over 2,500 cataract surgeries each year. Additionally, Dr. Wanye and his team provide eye care for more than 65,000 patients per year who are living in extreme poverty.
Eye Care in Accra, Ghana
In Accra, Ghana, Unite For Sight's support has enabled Crystal Eye Clinic to more than quadruple its annual number of surgeries, and 86% of the surgeries are now provided to patients living in extreme poverty. Unite For Sight annually sponsors more than 2,000 surgeries provided by Crystal Eye Clinic for patients living in extreme poverty. Dr. Clarke and his team provide eye care to more than 22,000 patients each year who are living in extreme poverty.
Eye Care in Kumasi, Ghana
Each year of a Unite For Sight partnership yields increased success with reaching patients living in extreme poverty. InKumasi, Ghana, Unite For Sight's support enabled Charity Eye Clinic to provide 1600 sight-restoring surgeries to village outreach patients during 2010.
