Marty Spencer on behalf of Seva Canada, Canada
Aim
Expanding the Community Eye Centres program in Africa: adding a new funding model to bring it to scale.
The project
Tanzania has almost no funds to support eye care services and as a result, people with relatively minor eye conditions such as refractive error or cataract are effectively blind.
A network of Community Eye Centers (CECs) will treat 6,000 patients per month and refer more for surgery. The referral hospital in Dar es Salaam is well equipped and staffed but has inadequate outreach capacity and facilities. Funding from this grant will support both the outreach facilities and the capacity within the hospital system.
Through CEC neglected poor patients will receive high quality care while social entrepreneurs receive modest return on their investment. Because the CEC model provides high quality care and invites private funding, the model is well suited to become a social franchise that can be scaled across urban Tanzania.
