Operation Restore Vision in Palestine

Project Overview

The Need: In 2009, the Saint John Eye Hospital (SJEH) performed a comprehensive study of eye disease within the Palestinian Territory including Gaza. This study showed that the leading cause of correctable blindness in Palestinians over 50 years of age is cataract.

Cataract is a treatable, curable disease in which the lens of the eye degenerates to become so cloudy that vision is unclear or even lost. Adults with cataract lose the ability to work, to play or to even take care of their family or themselves. The curative treatment for blindness due to cataract is an operation in which a highly-trained eye surgeon expertly removes the diseased lens and replaces it with an artificial lens. Success rates for the surgical restoration of vision due to cataract are greater than 99%.

The demand for cataract surgery greatly exceeds the capacity of the health care system. It is believed that 28,000 Palestinian adults in East Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza would benefit from cataract surgery. Presently, only 8,000 cataract operations are performed there each year. St John Eye Hospital is the leading provider of charitable eye care to people in these regions.

Our Approach: ACP is partnering with the St. John Eye Hospital in Jerusalem on two projects.

The first, “1000 Operations to Restore Eyesight in Palestinians,” is a $330,000 initiative to fund sight-saving operations for 1,000 Palestinians.

The second is a larger-scale, long-term strategic training of physicians and building satellite eye clinics in the West Bank.

Update: On December 22, 2011, ACP handed over a check for $27,000 to support St. John's Eye Hospital and their cataract surgery program. The funds will go to provide approximately 82 surgeries for otherwise blind Palestinian men and women.