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Gallery|Health

Cataracts in Zanzibar, one boy’s journey towards sight

Low-cost, easily treatable and preventable conditions cause blindness for millions of people worldwide.

The fight for sight - Bakir’s Journey/ Please Do Not Use
Two-year-old Bakir Rashid is guided by his sister on a bicycle. Rashid was born with bilateral congenital cataracts and is severely visually impaired. [Tommy Trenchard/Al Jazeera]
By Tommy Trenchard
Published On 9 Feb 20179 Feb 2017
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The World Health Organization estimates that there are currently as many as 246 million people living with visual impairment worldwide and a further 39 million who are already completely blind. Of that number, 90 percent live in developing countries where there are fewer opportunities for prevention and cure. 

The vast majority of forms of blindness are preventable.


READ MORE: Uganda: Onchocerciasis-river blindness along the Agogo


The lead cause of blindness in the developing world is cataracts, which can be congenital (from birth), or caused by trauma to the eye later in life. The operation to remove cataracts is both simple and cheap.

A single eye surgeon can carry out thousands in a year, each one taking as little as 10 minutes.

Yet, in places like the east African island of Zanzibar, where there is not a single paediatric eye surgeon, and much of the population lacks the access or the funds to receive the vision-saving operation, many continue to suffer needlessly.

The NGO Sightsavers has been funding a team of surgeons and medical specialists from the Tanzanian mainland who visit four times a year to carry out mass child-cataract operations. 

Two-year-old Bakir Rashid underwent the surgery in September 2016. 

READ MORE: Blind massage therapists offer relief from war in South Sudan

 

The fight for sight - Bakir’s Journey/ Please Do Not Use
Bakir stares at the TV in his home in Zanzibar. While he can make out vague shapes and colours, he lacks the ability to pick up any details. [Tommy Trenchard/Al Jazeera]
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The fight for sight - Bakir’s Journey/ Please Do Not Use
Bakir sits on his mother’s lap as she prepares tea. His condition has left him unable to live a normal life; he is completely dependent on others for even the most basic tasks. [Tommy Trenchard/Al Jazeera]
The fight for sight - Bakir’s Journey/ Please Do Not Use
Sightsavers staff pin up an eye-test chart at a school in northern Zanzibar. Baker’s case was picked up through one of these outreach camps designed to identify those with cataracts along with other forms of visual impairment. [Tommy Trenchard/Al Jazeera]
The fight for sight - Bakir’s Journey/ Please Do Not Use
Dr Paul Nyaluke inspects a patient's eyes during a week of intensive eye operations at the Mnazi Moja hospital in Zanzibar. Nyaluke visits the island four times a year to operate on child cataract cases. [Tommy Trenchard/Al Jazeera]
The fight for sight - Bakir’s Journey/ Please Do Not Use
Dr Nyaluke takes notes after an eye consultation. Congenital cataracts develop over time, become larger and more opaque if left untreated. After the age of about eight, most congenital cataract patients will have irreparably damaged vision. [Tommy Trenchard/Al Jazeera]
The fight for sight - Bakir’s Journey/ Please Do Not Use
Bakir lies on the operating table ahead of his surgery, which will take place under a general anaesthetic. The team of surgeons, visiting from mainland Tanzania, will carry out around 70 operations this week. [Tommy Trenchard/Al Jazeera]
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The fight for sight - Bakir’s Journey/ Please Do Not Use
A surgical assistant hands an instrument to Dr Paul Nyaluke as he removes the cataracts from Bakir’s eyes and inserts new lenses. [Tommy Trenchard/Al Jazeera]
The fight for sight - Bakir’s Journey/ Please Do Not Use
After his operation, Bakir recovers with his mother in the children's ward of Mnazi Moja hospital. The procedure involves minimal disruption to the eye, and patients can recover within a day or two. [Tommy Trenchard/Al Jazeera]
The fight for sight - Bakir’s Journey/ Please Do Not Use
Two days later, Bakir is driven back home from the hospital in a Sightsavers vehicle. His eyes, which have developed a squint over time, will take some time to adjust to the light, but already his vision is clearer. [Tommy Trenchard/Al Jazeera]
The fight for sight - Bakir’s Journey/ Please Do Not Use
A week after his surgery, Bakir’s family take him to a local beach for a day out before being fitted for glasses; Bakir’s sight is still not perfect. [Tommy Trenchard/Al Jazeera]
The fight for sight - Bakir’s Journey/ Please Do Not Use
After being fitted for spectacles, Bakir experiments with his new-found sight with his mother at their home in Zanzibar. He can now identify neighbours by sight from 80 yards away. [Tommy Trenchard/Al Jazeera]
The fight for sight - Bakir’s Journey/ Please Do Not Use
Bakir watches a Tanzanian TV drama with his mother and sister. Three months after his surgery, his eyes can now make out every detail on the screen. [Tommy Trenchard/Al Jazeera]
The fight for sight - Bakir’s Journey/ Please Do Not Use
Bakir plays with a pair of curtains at his home in Kisauni, Zanzibar, days after being fitted with spectacles. He must now re-learn how to navigate his world using his sense of sight. [Tommy Trenchard/Al Jazeera]
The fight for sight - Bakir’s Journey/ Please Do Not Use
Bakir explores the previously unknown wonders of the banana grove in his garden, three months after his cataract operation. [Tommy Trenchard/Al Jazeera]


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