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Healthcare professionals from ACCI performing cataract surgery in Gambia. TA
Preventing Blindness in Gambia from Elda

Preventing Blindness in Gambia from Elda

A group of healthcare professionals from Alicante has been travelling to Africa for 25 years to treat cataracts and engage in humanitarian work.

Pau Sellés

Alicante

Miércoles, 5 de febrero 2025, 07:22

For a quarter of a century, a group of healthcare professionals from Alicante has been visiting Africa to improve the medical coverage of the continent. Their efforts are channelled through the International Blindness Prevention Association (ACCI), an NGO founded in Elda, focusing on addressing cases of preventable blindness. Until Sunday, February 9th, they are in Gambia, specifically in the northern city of Farafenni.

The president of these passionate international cooperation advocates is Pablo Velez Lasso, who, along with a team of nurses, opticians, anaesthetists, and other healthcare workers, contributes to improving the "deficient" healthcare system suffered by the inhabitants of this West African country.

The main condition tackled by ACCI members is cataracts, resulting from the high exposure to sunlight experienced by the locals. It is one of the leading causes of preventable blindness; the other is glaucoma, also prevalent among the continent's natives.

(Above) The hospital serving as the NGO's operational base. The remaining images depict cataract treatment. TA
Imagen principal - (Above) The hospital serving as the NGO's operational base. The remaining images depict cataract treatment.
Imagen secundaria 1 - (Above) The hospital serving as the NGO's operational base. The remaining images depict cataract treatment.
Imagen secundaria 2 - (Above) The hospital serving as the NGO's operational base. The remaining images depict cataract treatment.

Given the extreme poverty of the area and its lack of facilities and equipment, the association has made an extra effort to provide adequate resources to the General Hospital of Farafenni, which becomes their operational base for a few days.

"We have provided a surgical microscope for ophthalmology, a slit lamp for anterior eye examinations, a steriliser, a biometer to measure eye length and calculate the appropriate Intraocular Lens for the patient, as they have been doing it 'by eye' and giving everyone the same prescription," explains Pablo.

Before the entire contingent landed in Gambia, a couple of association members visited the Farafenni Hospital to ensure the facilities were ready to host an intense week of work by this team of professionals from Alicante.

Collaboration at Different Levels

In addition to providing materials and offering their assistance, there is mutual collaboration with the country's healthcare workers, whom they also train in techniques and procedures unknown there.

Pablo explains that it is common for people in Gambia to "seek medical help when the condition is already in an advanced stage. Therefore, the care provided by ACCI members is charitable and free, allowing locals, even without cataracts, to have a preventive check-up."

The humanitarian work of the Alicante NGO also includes offering microcredits, constructing and equipping grain mills, rebuilding latrines, constructing and repairing wells, literacy courses, building schools, transporting and delivering tons of school supplies, sports equipment, clothing, glasses, shoes, and toys. All of this is funded by grants from the Elda and Petrer Town Councils, as well as contributions from about thirty members.

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