Sierra Leone Eye Care Programme

Blindness is estimated to affect 0.7 per cent of the population of Sierra Leone (about 43,800 people), while blindness in people over 50 years of age is estimated as 5.9 per cent, according to the most recently available national data.

More than 90 per cent of all blindness in Sierra Leone is avoidable, which is significantly higher than the global average of 80 per cent.

In 2012, Sightsavers was awarded two complementary five-year grants from the European Commission (EC) and Seeing is Believing, which together have enabled comprehensive support to the Sierra Leone Eye Care Programme across all four of the country’s regions. The project aimed to help reduce avoidable blindness and vision impairment and strengthen the country’s health services.

This programme is funded by two separate donors who have different reporting requirements, so we have produced two separate evaluation reports that focus on particular areas of the programme.

European Commission programme evaluation: Strengthening national health systems and increasing access to health services for people with disabilities in three regions of Sierra Leone.

Seeing is Believing programme evaluation: Reducing avoidable blindness and vision impairment in Sierra Leone through countrywide provision of comprehensive eye care services.

Publication date: December 2017