The ministry will implement the project under a three-year partnership with Addenbrooke's Abroad and the Standard Chartered Bank Group, which provided majority funding (P4,065,000). The rest of the funds are expected to come from the MOH and Addenbrooke's. Speaking at a media briefing, on the sidelines of a workshop for ophthalmic personnel Wednesday, the coordinator for the National Prevention of Blindness Unit Alice Lehasa said the project is one of the ministry's efforts to achieve goals set out in the Vision 2020: The Right to See global initiative, to which Botswana is a signatory.
The project will focus on eliminating eye diseases that have been identified as priorities in causing preventable illness in Botswana. These include cataracts, glaucoma, refractive errors as well as diabetic retinopathy, which is a complication caused by diabetes. Cataracts are the leading cause of avoidable blindness globally, while glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness. Lehasa said a 2009 study undertaken in Botswana showed that uncorrected refractive errors are the leading cause of blindness in children.
