Projeto Kilimanjaro

The 2015 António Champalimaud Vision Award recognises a project developed by three organisations that joined together to achieve a common goal - to fight blindness and poverty in Africa.

The kilimanjaro Project is a unique effort and a triumph for the power of collaboration. The Kilimajaro Centre for Community Ophthalmology (KCCO), the Seva Foundation and Seva Canada combined their individual areas of expertise in order to combat vision disorders, tackle poverty and create economic sustainability in communities in Sub-Saharan Africa. By combining their resources and know-how they have been able to make a significant impact on the ground. With a focus on equality, the project makes use of clinical, scientific, social and microcredit tools to support sustainability health and finance solutions led by african teams.

KCCO, working with limited staff and funding, strives to provide comprehensive eye care services to millions of people in Sub-Saharan Africa. Together with Seva Foundation and Seva Canada their work focuses on three core themes: achieving universal eye care coverage, particularly in Eastern and Central Africa; building capacity for organisational and financial sustainability; and building the evidence for improved policies, programmes and practices.

Through these three areas of work, the 2015 Vision award winners work to change all aspects of eye care service delivery in Africa. Their unique collaborative effort has reduced poverty, increased sustainability, and improved the health of people and communities across Sub-Saharan Africa.