Saving Children’s Eyesight and Their Future in Mozambique Saving Children’s Eyesight and Their Future in Mozambique
The New York Times
One doctor is showing nurses, teachers and parents how to spot eye problems, many of which can be easily treated. Surgery, and even just glasses, can be life-changing, and keep kids in school.
Over the past year, Muanema Fakira noticed something odd about the eyes of her 1-year-old daughter Sumaya. Her left eye was cloudy. It did not gleam with curiosity or glint in the sun. When the problem persisted, Ms. Fakira made the rounds to health clinics in their town in central Mozambique. Doctors said they could not help.
But they knew of someone who could, if Ms. Fakira could take Sumaya, now 2, on a 100-mile journey to the coast.
The family made the trip to the city of Quelimane, where Dr. Isaac Vasco da Gama examined Sumaya’s eyes and quickly diagnosed a congenital cataract.
Ms. Fakira was skeptical — cataracts are for old people, she said. But Dr. da Gama explained that an infection at birth, or shortly after, can cause cataracts in children. The condition is particularly worrying because vision problems affect the development of a child’s physical function. But the good news, he said, was that the problem can be solved with a simple surgery, one he does a dozen times a week at Quelimane Central Hospital.
This was particularly lucky for Sumaya because Dr. da Gama is one of just three pediatric ophthalmologists in Mozambique, a country of 30 million people.
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