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The BMJ Christmas appeal 2016-7: Orbis, the sight savers

BMJ 2016; 355 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i6425 (Published 01 December 2016) Cite this as: BMJ 2016;355:i6425

The charity Orbis wants to end avoidable blindness worldwide, which is why we chose it for this year’s BMJ Christmas appeal, explains Jane Feinmann. Please give generously

David was just 4 months old when his mother, Moria, suspected that he was going blind. The boy, from Copperbelt province in Zambia, was taken to a traditional healer who made cuts near his eyes and put herbs in the wounds. It was only when Moria stood up to family pressure that her son, by then unable to play sport or write legibly, was diagnosed at the local clinic as having congenital bilateral cataract.

In 2012, David, then aged 10 years, was treated as an emergency referral at the paediatric unit in Kitwe Eye Annex, a facility supported by the charity …

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