From blindness to sight: See the Change your support makes in Malawi

Posted on: Thursday, May 11th, 2023

Join us for See the Change week: go behind the scenes at a sight-saving project in Malawi, southern Africa, to witness the difference your support is making for people living needlessly blind.

From 21-26 May, we will be sharing day-by-day updates from a week’s “cataract outreach” in rural Nkhotakota district, where over 60 people blind from cataracts will have sight-restoring surgery. Follow our social media or sign up for emails to hear from the medical team who are taking vital eye health services into rural areas, and meet men and women who finally have the chance to see again after years of avoidable blindness.

Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness in Malawi but many blind people who need cataract surgery do not have access to it. A shortage of trained eye health workers and lack of eye health services in district hospitals means that people in rural areas often have no access to diagnosis or treatment for eye problems. If they develop conditions such as cataracts they will need to travel long distances to a specialist hospital for treatment – meaning help is simply out of reach for people living in poverty.

Our See the Way project in rural Malawi is helping to change that. In 2020, you donated an amazing £1,320,921 to help people in the world’s poorest places See the Way to a brighter future. Every pound was then matched by the UK government. This funding is delivering a 3-year project to improve access to eye health services in rural districts, including through cataract outreach camps, providing equipment and training eye health workers.

Join us for See the Change week to see how the project is making a difference. As well as seeing the life-changing impact of sight-restoring cataract surgery for individuals and their families, you’ll hear from local health workers how the project will deliver lasting change by training and equipping rural teams. And you can support the project and people living needlessly blind by joining us for daily prayer through the week.

Sign up for See the Change week here.