A 20-minute operation
can restore sight.
Help us to eradicate curable
blindness in Indonesia.
A 20-minute operation
can restore sight.
Help us to eradicate curable
blindness in Indonesia.
SIGHT RESTORATION & BLINDNESS PREVENTION
Blindness prevention and cataract surgery is an ongoing challenge in Indonesia. The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) estimated that, in 2020, around 3.7 million Indonesians were blind. With 65%, or nearly 2.4 million, of these needlessly blind with cataracts and 11.5 million moderately to severely visually impaired, the challenge is a big one as the majority of these people are unable to seek specialist medical attention.
For most Indonesians the cost of a cataract operation is far beyond their financial capacity, and they remain blind throughout their lives, a burden on their families and communities.
To maximise the spread of its services, JFF has different modes of offering its services.
Bali Eye Programs
JFF’s team travels to villages around Bali taking the screening and operating service to the people. In a single day program, the team can screen up to 500 people with eye problems. Glasses are issued to assist with vision problems and eye treatments are given to those with infections. People who are cataract blind are identified and operated on the same day in JFF’s mobile eye clinic which travels with the team. The following day, the operated patients undergo a post-operative check and they and their families are given instructions on how to take care of the eye in the post-operative period.
The team also visits local schools to check the eyes of the students and offer instruction on eye care.
A weekly eye screening and operating session is conducted at JFF’s Headquarters in Sanur, catering to people in the local vicinity.
Offshore Eye Programs
JFF’s team travels to other Indonesian islands where there are high rates of poverty and cataract blindness. These programs are of 3-5 days duration and the team can screen up to 3,000 people with eye problems and operate 200-300 cataract blind people in the mobile eye clinics or in a local hospital theatre.
The team also visits local schools to check the eyes of the students and offer instruction on eye care.
These programs are run in conjunction and with the support of local government, and Departments of Health.
Outreach Eye Clinics
JFF partners with private and government eye clinics on other islands that offer free cataract surgery to people in the lower socio-economic group, with support of surgical supplies from JFF.
Children’s Cataract Surgery
JFF also operates on children’s cataracts. These operations are performed under general anaesthetic in a hospital theatre, in Bali, or in a hospital close to the children’s villages, if available.