Ocularis

We are a non-profit NGO founded in 2010 in Barcelona by Dr. Joan Prat, head of Pediatric Ophthalmology at Sant Joan de Deú Hospital. Our action is certified by the AECID (Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation) and by the IAPB (International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness). We combat blindness and visual impairment, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. According to WHO data, 586 million people in the world suffer from visual impairments, which in 90% of cases are preventable or curable. In many African countries, people do not have access to the ophthalmological care they need due to the lack of specialized doctors: in Mozambique, there is 1 ophthalmologist for every million inhabitants. The consequences of this shortage of health professionals are considerable in the daily life, in the education, and in the economic development. Our team, made up of specialist surgeons in different branches of ophthalmology, opticians-optometrists, ocular prosthetists and cooperative managers, focuses its activity on ophthalmological and optical training in Sub-Saharan Africa. What makes us different? Our action is focused on TRAINING, not on short-term assistance: we create postgraduate courses in COLLABORATION WITH LOCAL UNIVERSITIES, taking into account their needs and constraints. Our teachers travel on-site, allowing local doctors to train while curing their own patients, with their own tools: they will learn to diagnose, treat, operate and acquire the ability to teach their new generations of ocular health professionals without depending on outside help like ours. At present, we are developing and imparting training at the Faculty of Medicine of the Cheick Anta Diôp University (UCAD) of Dakar in SENEGAL, and at the Faculty of Health Sciences (FCS-UNILURIO) in Nampula, MOZAMBIQUE. We occasionally cooperate in urgent humanitarian aid missions, such as in refugee camps in Greece, and also collaborate with several social entities in Spain.