{"id":29730,"date":"2026-04-30T22:49:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T19:49:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/?p=29730"},"modified":"2026-04-30T22:49:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T19:49:03","slug":"siayas-bold-leap-toward-ending-preventable-blindness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/siayas-bold-leap-toward-ending-preventable-blindness\/","title":{"rendered":"Siaya\u2019s Bold Leap Toward Ending Preventable Blindness"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Quinter Atieno<\/p>\n

\"\"The County Government of Siaya today hosted delegations from The Fred Hollows Foundation and Australian Aid to celebrate a partnership that has revolutionized local eye care. The visiting team first paid a courtesy call to the county leadership, where they were received by Colonel (Rtd.) Cyrus Oguna on behalf of Governor James Orengo.<\/p>\n

Following the warm reception, the delegation toured Siaya County Referral Hospital to observe firsthand the integration of advanced ophthalmic services into the local healthcare system.<\/p>\n

The collaboration\u2019s impact is profound: 19,200 residents have regained their vision through cataract surgeries. Dr. Omondi Owino, Chief Officer for Health, highlighted that the partnership extends beyond surgery to sustainable capacity building, including specialized training for a medical officer at Moi University.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe outreach program has increased service utilization and helped demystify eye-related issues within the community,\u201d noted Col. Oguna.<\/p>\n

Calvin Omondi, County Coordinator for Eye Care Services, shared the program's remarkable growth. Since 2012, Siaya has expanded from a single specialist to a team of 18, and from one clinic to six fully functional facilities in Siaya, Ambira, Ukwala, Yala, Bondo, and Madiany. These stations have been equipped with approximately KSh 48 million in specialized tools over the years.<\/p>\n

The Australian government remains a key pillar of support. Angeli Damodaran of the Australian delegation announced an investment of approximately 8 million Australian dollars for the 2025\u20132026 period to support health and disability initiatives in Kenya.<\/p>\n

While the current phase concludes this year, Peter Milo, County Director of The Fred Hollows Foundation-Kenya, confirmed a new project cycle running from 2026 to 2030.<\/p>\n

\"\"This initiative will continue targeting the leading causes of blindness, particularly cataracts, which account for over 50% of blindness cases\u201480% of which are reversible. Other focal areas will include refractive errors and glaucoma.<\/p>\n

The visit concluded with field observations of community screenings, where the delegation engaged with local health ambassadors. As Siaya looks toward 2030, the partnership remains dedicated to ensuring that preventable blindness becomes a thing of the past through local ownership and clinical excellence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Quinter Atieno The County Government of Siaya today hosted delegations from The Fred Hollows Foundation and Australian Aid to celebrate a partnership that has revolutionized local eye care. The visiting team first paid a courtesy call to the county leadership, where they were received by Colonel (Rtd.) Cyrus Oguna on behalf of Governor James […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":29731,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}