http://viewchange.org Videos from ViewChange.org (Filtered by topics: Blindness) en-us Thu, 06 Oct 2011 08:30:00 +0000 Copyright 2011 Link Media, Inc. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/trachoma-preventing-and-treating-blindness Trachoma is the leading cause of preventable blindness worldwide, a painful sensation caused by bacteria that feels like sand stuck beneath the eyelid. Helen Keller International is advancing techniques and knowledge to treat and prevent this disease. Thu, 06 Oct 2011 08:30:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/trachoma-preventing-and-treating-blindness Trachoma, Sub-Saharan Africa, Trichiasis, Water & Sanitation, Tanzania, Africa, Blindness, Mtwara Region, Eyelash, Eyelid >> TITLE: Helen Keller International >> TITLE: Complex problems, simple solutions: Trachoma: preventing and treating blindness. >> PETER NYANDA [HKI Coordinator, Eye Health]: Trachoma is an infectious disease that affects the upper eyelid of a human being. A bacterium causes it, and it affects most people in places where there is a lack of proper hygiene and sanitation. If you are suffering from trachoma, when the eyelashes are blinking they cause scarring of the cornea of the eyes. >> AMINA FAKIHI [Tandahimba District, Mtwara, Tanzania]: At night, in the afternoon, all the time. I wipe my eyes but nothing comes out. It seems like there is sand in them, but nothing comes out. >> PETER NYANDA: The more you blink, the more pain there is, every second of your life until you get treated. >> AMINA FAKIHI: If I am treated and I am able to see, I will be very grateful. >> TITLE: Complex problems, simple solutions: Trachoma is the number one cause of preventable blindness in the world. Trichiasis, the last phase of this disease, causes blindness that can be corrected through surgery. HKI trains surgeons, provides antibiotics, and educates communities to reduce blindness from trachoma. >> PIRMIN NYERIO [Nurse, Trichiasis Specialist]: Most people who are affected by this disease do not have the capacity to access the medical services that are available. For those patients of trichiasis, if they don't have any place to get service, they usually take a small knife to cut the eyelashes. That technique relieves pain temporarily, but the eyelashes are very sharp after being cut, so they eyelashes are rubbing the cornea and one is becoming blind from trachoma. One principle of saving the blind is you as care provider have to follow the blind patient to give the service. There were no surgeons in hard to reach areas, so we thought of training surgeons so the patients could benefit from their service. >> PETER NYANDA: During the selection of trainees, we made sure that trainees come from the grassroots level. The majority of them are clinical officers, so they meet the community each and every day. They are the community doctors, if you will. So they play a major role in addressing trachoma at the local level. >> PIRMIN NYERIO: In our district we sent four surgeons and they've already been trained. If the procedure was done very nicely, there is no chance of recurrence. If the surgery is successful, I feel nice because they'll say, "Oh, that's a good surgeon!" >> TITLE: Complex problems, simple solutions: HKI helps prevent trachoma by empowering communities to take control of their own health. >> FROWIN CHITTANDA [HKI Program Officer, Eye Health]: The School Health Program is a key program. HKI is trying to educate children to give them knowledge on the disease so that they can take preventive measures so they don't contract the disease. The simple kind of face wash can help them to prevent trachoma. Just a simple face wash. >> PETER NYANDA: Primary school kids can be very good ambassadors to the rest of the communities. They can bring the message home. Development can work better if it starts from within. >> FROWIN CHITTANDA: With international efforts put together, you can always dream of success in the future. >> TITLE: Helen Keller International, www.hki.org. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/orange-fleshed-sweet-potatoes Sometimes the best solution to a complex problem is the simplest. In the Lake Victoria region of Tanzania, communities are tackling the root causes of blindness and malnutrition by switching from white-fleshed to orange-fleshed sweet potatoes. Wed, 05 Oct 2011 09:58:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/orange-fleshed-sweet-potatoes Tanzania, Agriculture & Food, Malnutrition, Blindness, Vitamin A, Africa, Vitamin A deficiency, Subsistence farming, Lake Victoria, Sub-Saharan Africa >> TITLE: Helen Keller International >> TITLE: Complex problems, simple solutions: eat orange for sight and life-saving vitamin A. >> TITLE: Lake Victoria Region, Tanzania >> MARY KABATI [Coordinator for HKI's Local Partner]: The sweet potato is very important to a Tanzanian woman, especially one who comes from around Lake Victoria. Sweet potatoes have been there for years, but they are mostly white-fleshed. Those are the ones that you commonly see at the market. Orange-fleshed sweet potatoes are quite different. They have good color; you want to eat them. In addition, they have an added value of vitamin A. >> TITLE: Complex problems, simple solutions: vitamin A deficiency is the number one cause of childhood blindness and also compromises the immune system, increasing risk of death. HKI promotes the production and consumption of vitamin A-rich foods like orange-fleshed sweet potatoes to reduce vitamin A deficiency. >> MARY KABATI: When we heard about the orange-fleshed sweet potatoes and their importance to health, we thought that now is the time to move from white-fleshed and introduce the orange-fleshed sweet potatoes to our target communities. >> MARGARET BENJAMIN [HKI Nutrition Coordinator]: We think that promoting orange-fleshed sweet potatoes will be a very good idea, since it is a nutrient-rich crop with a lot of vitamin A. Our children will be having a double advantage: they are having a vitamin A-rich food as well as getting the calories that they need for the day. >> THERESA KIYEGA [Mother and Farmer]: At first we were surprised because we had different potato seeds. But after we harvested, they were all the same - sweet and soft. We like them. >> MARY KABATI: We found out that they were very popular among women and children. >> THERESA KIYEGA: We planted the seeds on the fourth of January, and after one month we weeded, and we weeded again one month after that. In April, the potatoes were ready to be harvested. In May we were taught to cook them differently. Now we cook them on our own. >> MARY KABATI: With the orange-fleshed sweet potato, you can prepare a variety of dishes. You can prepare good weaning food like porridge. You can prepare some samosas, cakes, biscuits, crisps, which also can be marketable. If you want to have a good income, instead of just selling fresh roots, you can sell products. >> THERESA KIYEGA: Now that we have completed the training, we see that this program will bring us great benefits if we receive it well and work on it. We will improve the income in the family. If I roast the potatoes, we will be able to sell the chips. >> MARY KABATI: Once the communities were told about the benefits of vitamin A, they nicknamed the potato, "medicinal potato," because it does so many things for the body. I think we can make it so that the children will not be deficient in vitamin A anymore. >> TITLE: Helen Keller International, www.hki.org http://www.viewchange.org/videos/zambia-seeing-is-believing <p>Many people in Zambia don't consume enough vitamin A, which leads to blindness, infant mortality, and a host of other health problems. However, the Zambian government has initiated programs to ensure its people receive the nutrition they so desperately need.</p> Mon, 18 Oct 2010 08:49:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/zambia-seeing-is-believing Nutrition, Zambia, Vitamin A deficiency, Lusaka, Luapula Province, Health, Agriculture & Food, Journeyman Pictures, UNICEF, Africa >> VOICEOVER: On Lake Mweru, in Zambia's northern Luapula Province, fishermen are bringing in the day's catch. But, for local people, a plentiful diet of fish has had unexpected consequences. A survey showed that 57 percent of blind people in Zambia come from Luapula Province. The cause: lack of vitamin A, a lethal public health problem, which also has a significant effect on child deaths, as well as increasing the risk of women dying in childbirth. >> TITLE: Seeing is Believing >> VOICEOVER: On the shores of Lake Mweru, Dr. Kunda runs a child health clinic serving the fishermen's families. >> DR. SIMON KUNDA [Kabuta Rural Health Centre]: People here regard fish as the only nutritious type of food, so they deprive the children of other foodstuffs, giving priority to fish. Dietary supplements are so low. Most of the mothers go for fieldwork in the morning. They come back very late, so feeding is compromised. We usually detect that when there is diarrhea, and when a patient comes with eye problems, that's when we see that surely there is a vitamin A deficiency. The impact of vitamin A deficiency, it has brought in high mortality and morbidity. We need to encourage these mothers to be giving their children vitamin A supplements. As you can see, if you look at the conjunctive of the child, it's very, very red. So, measles also affects the eye, so it's very easy for these children, especially if they are malnourished, to get blind. >> VOICEOVER: In Zambia's capital, Lusaka, Freddy Mubanga is responsible for increasing vitamin A intake, both in Luapula Province and throughout the whole country. >> SIGN: The National Food and Nutrition Commission >> FREDDY MUBANGA [Acting Executive Director, National Food and Nutrition Commission]: We started investigating the micronutrient deficiencies in 1985, when we undertook a survey in one of the provinces, Luapula, which had recorded high levels of blindness. It was found that about 16.2 percent of children 6 to 72 months had subclinical vitamin A deficiency. That, of course, gave way to start thinking of some strategies to see how we can reduce the levels of deficiencies. >> VOICEOVER: Since the 1995 survey, Zambia has implemented vitamin supplements for children at child health clinics, both throughout the country and in the capital, Lusaka. >> SIGN: George Clinic: Family planning services available here. >> NURSE: George has got a very big catchment area, and we see a lot of children. It's a really highly populated place, and it's a very busy clinic. We have a lot of underweight, malnourished children. We give vitamin A to the under fives. >> WOMAN [Mother]: I think for my baby to be healthy, I need to be coming here to get medicine for her to be protected from various diseases. Breastfeeding's the best, and it's cheap, very cheap. You can buy vegetables. You eat. When the baby feeds, she gets all the nutrients. It's very cheap, in fact. I like it. >> NURSE: Five or six months? >> WOMAN 2 [Mother]: Five. >> NURSE: Yes, they can get it through breastfeeding, yes. In case they don't get enough through the foods, then we supplement at the clinic by giving you vitamin A capsules. >> FREDDY MUBANGA: Following the national survey on Vitamin A deficiency in 1997, we realized that the problem is so immense, so we have to look at other options. In addition to supplementation, we thought of moving into sugar fortification. We looked around [at] what food vehicles we can use, and sugar seemed to be the one that was produced centrally, and it was found in almost every part of the country. >> VOICEOVER: To add vitamin A to sugar, the government needed the cooperation of Zambia Sugar, a private corporation and the country's sole producer. >> JAMES MUKUKWA [Production Manager, Zambia Sugar]: It was a program that was introduced by the government to the industry, so it was very new to us. We knew literally nothing. People working with the government, they had contacts in Guatemala who were really the founders of VA fortification of sugar. So the best way to undertake that project was to go to the source, to the experts, and me being the production manager, I had to go there because eventually I had to come and implement that project. Zambia Sugar agreed to help out with the national health problem that the whole country faced as a sign of goodwill, so it's actually doing it for free. The company bears the cost. It's very expensive: every year, we spend almost USD$1 million to buy the VA, the vitamin A. >> VOICEOVER: USAID has also been a major supporter, and initiator, of the sugar fortification program. >> JAMES MUKUKWA: Since we implemented the fortification program at Zambia Sugar in 1998, we've had several delegations coming from other countries: Uganda, South Africa, Malawi, and Kenya last year. They've been here to inquire and familiarize themselves with the VA fortification, with a view of them also going the same way. >> VOICEOVER: It may cost USD$1 million a year to fortify all of Zambia's sugar with vitamin A, but the cost per bag of sugar is just a few cents. And even that pales into insignificance when you add in the number of lives saved and the huge health benefits of vitamin A fortification for all Zambians. >> FREDDY MUBANGA: Last year actually the Zambian government passed regulations to say all the sugar that has to be consumed in households has to be fortified with vitamin A. Since we started enforcing that, the border areas -- Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana and so forth -- their sugar is still coming in. So it becomes a bit difficult to enforce, or to control, the influx of this. But all the sugar that enters through the border points, it has to conform to the regulations. >> SIGN: Customs and Immigration: Entrance >> CHILUBA MWAPE [Plant Health Inspector, Chirundu Border Post]: This is brown sugar coming from Zimbabwe. Now we've got one truck carrying sugar, brown sugar, 30 metric tons. Yes, from Zimbabwe. When the truck comes which is carrying sugar from Zimbabwe or South Africa, we take samples. When we get these primary samples, we submit them to Lusaka for further analysis at the food and drugs laboratory. >> SIGN: Ministry of Health Food and Drugs Control Laboratory, Lusaka >> MRS. SONGOL [Food And Drug Control Laboratory]: We have the food and drugs regulations, where the levels of vitamin A in sugar are stated. So we make sure that, from the analysis, we check whether the levels do conform to the standard. We receive the samples form all over the country. We also get samples from Zambia Sugar company itself. Part of their quality control program is actually to bring the samples here for analysis. We discovered that some samples of sugar were actually indicating that there was no vitamin A, but when they were analyzed at the factory, they were finding some vitamin A. But after storage the levels of vitamin A were going down, until at one point we were finding actually zero. From that time on, there's been regular sampling to make sure that that problem does not occur again. We have to keep on checking on the quality of food, because we can't relax and say, "Well, since we've been testing so far, maybe now we should stop." No, it's an ongoing process. ++++1154 >> VOICEOVER: Although fortification of sugar has been a success in Zambia, it reaches only 52 percent of the population in comparison to Zambia's staple food, maize, or mshima, which is consumed by over 90 percent. >> FREDDY MUBANGA: We felt that probably we need to diversify the food base for fortification, and one sort of food that we thought of was maize, because it's highly consumed in Zambia. >> VOICEOVER: In Lusaka's Chawama township, government scientists are testing the adding of vitamin A supplements to maize at the local Hammer Mill. Unlike sugar, which is produced at one single source, 40 percent of maize produced in Zambia is ground in local mills used by people in poor urban and rural areas. Simple methods had to be found to ensure local people would mix vitamin A into their own maize meal. While Zambia has expanded fortification of foodstuffs with vitamin A, evaluating its impact can be difficult. >> WARD SIAMUSANTU [National Food and Nutrition Commission]: It's ideal to do the impact study now because the baseline was there in 1997, and now it's almost like six years. We could actually find what has been happening. However, we have malnutrition levels very high. We have HIV problems we're going through. It will be very difficult actually to tease out which component has vitamin A supplementation has actually affected in our population. It's very difficult because the amounts that are put in sugar are very minimal, so you need to, at the same time as you are looking at fortification, you have also to look at dietary levels, which might take longer. It's one of the most important things to follow. Let's change our people's diets so that we don't even bother fortifying, supplementing. From the diet they could eat, you could have a lot of vitamin A. >> VOICEOVER: Back in Luapula Province, nutritionists are working on improving people's diet and preventing future cases of blindness, illness, and death. >> DON KAYEMBE [Provincial Nutritionist, Luapula Province]: Even us as nutritionists, we are promoting that you can take fruit, you can take vegetables, for vitamin A, but as long as there's no presence of oil, so it can't be absorbed by the body. These palm oil trees are imported by the producer from Costa Rica. We brought them because naturally they are along the Luapula Valley, we have got the traditional ones, so those ones are not bearing much fruit, and even the fruit which are received are not giving us as much oil as expected. So these improved seeds, they are helping to give us more and more cocoa oil from one bunch. When they grow, after at least one year, when they become like these ones, we start now giving out to the communities. Now, the communities, there are some who are accessing them at very low cost, just to promote this and to give them ownership. So far I think we've distributed 57,000, and what we've imported so far could be 65,000 or so since we started in 1997. >> VOICEOVER: It takes four years for the palms to bear fruit. In local villages women have been learning how to make palm oil. Mrs. Eskembene of Sensima Village was sent to Ghana to study palm oil production. >> MRS. ESKEMBENE: We used to process palm oil before, but for no particular reason. Sometimes people would use it, others not. But, after we knew the benefits of it, we decided to increase production. >> DR. STELLA GOINGS [UNICEF Representative, Zambia]: Zambians were quick to realize that vitamin A deficiency was contributing to an intolerably high rate of morbidity and mortality, especially for children, and they were also quick to understand the importance of supplementation, fortification, and diversification programs. Zambia is a country that is confronting a food crisis this year. This is forcing [the] government to reconsider the way they look at food and the way they handle food. A part of this -- we hope that UNICEF will play a very active role -- will be making certain that mothers and people who are in charge of preparing food for the household are equipped to establish and maintain household gardens, and that we provide the education that's necessary for ... so they know how to prepare the foods. >> VOICEOVER: Back at Dr. Kunda's clinic, mothers are now taking cooking classes to learn how to prepare vitamin-rich foods. >> DR. SIMON KUNDA: We've started a program where we encourage mothers to be using the local variable foods, like green vegetables, yellow fruits like pawpaw, oranges, and here, we are lucky because we have these palm trees. Now, research has discovered that these things are very rich in vitamin A, so we encourage mothers to be using the oil from palm trees. >> VOICEOVER: For the people of Luapula Province, adding vitamin A to their fish diet now promises a healthier, brighter future. >> TITLE: [end credits] http://www.viewchange.org/videos/the-chance-to-save-millions-a-bold-new-endeavour <p>Across Africa, millions of adults and children die every year from treatable diseases. Sometimes all that is needed is one shot or a single pill. But with the vast majority of Africans living in remote areas, the question is how to get these potentially life-saving treatments to the sick? A bold new endeavour empowering members of local communities to help each other may just be an answer.&nbsp;</p> Tue, 06 Jul 2010 23:36:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/the-chance-to-save-millions-a-bold-new-endeavour Africa, Onchocerciasis, Blindness, United Nations, Ivermectin, Clinic, Vaccination, Immunization, Parasitic worm, Infectious disease >> DALJIT DHALIWAL: Across Africa, millions of adults and children die every year from treatable diseases. Sometimes all that is needed is one shot or a single pill. But with the majority of Africans living in remote areas, the question becomes: how to get these potentially life-saving treatments to the sick? A bold new endeavor may just be an answer. >> VOICEOVER: No, this is not a political rally or a religious gathering. It is an innovative new way to deliver health care in remote, African villages. Begun almost 15 years ago with one disease and one drug, this community-led process is now being explored to deliver much more, for more diseases. But let's start at the beginning, in one of many small villages in Nigeria, where Esther is trying to make a living selling cassava. Money isn't her only problem. There are numerous diseases that are always a risk: like malaria, which kills mostly children and pregnant women; and a parasitic worm that damages the skin and eyes causing terrible itching and, in the worst cases, blindness. When she was younger, Esther was infested with the parasite. >> ESTHER: My father actually went blind from this disease. I was afraid that I would lose my sight as well. >> VOICEOVER: This disease is called onchocerciasis, or river blindness, because the black flies which spread the parasites to humans breed in rivers and streams. River blindness affects 30 countries in Africa alone. The World Health Organization estimates that half a million people are blind because of it. Fortunately, there is a drug which can prevent the disease. But getting Ivermectin to all the people who need it is a massive task. A radical new method of drug distribution was needed, a method that would work in the demanding conditions of rural Africa, where there aren't enough doctors and nurses to serve in these remote areas. So it was decided to unite rural people living here to do the job themselves. Cleophas Bakari is one of these volunteers. He's a Community Drug Distributor for his village, Garbachede. Cleophas isn't just liked by his community, he was chosen by them. That's essential to the success of the program, says Professor Oladele Akogun, local Research Coordinator for the project. >> PROF. OLADELE AKOGUN: It is absolutely important and it is actually the foundation of community participation because they need somebody they trust, somebody that reports to them, somebody that obeys and agrees with their culture. >> VOICEOVER: Community meetings like this discuss and decide on all aspects of the Ivermectin distribution program. Today, they are reviewing how well the distribution went this year. This man complains that households near him didn't get any Ivermectin. A representative from the health clinic asks him to be more specific: who missed out and where? The volunteers are trained by local, qualified medical staff and are carefully followed by research scientists and the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control. At first, the professionals were skeptical that unqualified and often uneducated villagers could carry out drug distribution correctly and safely. >> DR. HANS REMME: You give a drug to a community they will kill everybody, they will sell the drug, it will be a mess. >> VOICEOVER: Tropical Disease Research Coordinator at the World Health Organization, Dr. Hans Remme. >> DR. HANS REMME: So we did some first studies to find out and address that question, and the answer was communities had no problem whatsoever of doing this. They were very good at it. Actually, they took it very seriously. >> CLEOPHAS BAKARI: At first I had doubts about it. But later when I went for the training, and as the training went on, I learned that I could do the job well. >> VOICEOVER: Sixty million Africans are now being treated for river blindness by volunteers like these in four different countries in Africa. But now they have been asked to take on a much bigger challenge: treating up to five different diseases, including malaria, which kills more than two and a half million Africans every year. Esther is now a fully trained community drug distributor. She wants to help those who suffer most from malaria: pregnant women and children under five. Just then, Esther's neighbor arrives. She's very concerned about her baby, who's got a high fever. The mosquito bites are worrying. Fortunately, Cleophas has been trained not only to prevent malaria but also to diagnose and treat it. >>PROF. OLADELE AKOGUN: They mainly use symptoms. The CDD touches the head to compare the temperature of the head with his own and see the difference in temperature, and that tells you that this child has fever. About 90 percent of every fever case is malaria in Africa. >> VOICEOVER: The treatment is very straightforward: Coartem, a combination therapy which includes the most effective anti-malaria compound, artemisinin. But it's vital it's taken as soon as possible. That's why Esther wanted to be trained. At home and in the market, she's always available when mothers and their children need help. Esther now keeps a stock of Coartem in her own home so neighbors can come for anti-malaria drugs day or night. A three-year study just released shows that community drug distributors like Esther are having a huge impact. >> DR HANS REMME: The results were really dramatic. We found without this community pressure the cover, say, for proper treatment for malaria was around 20 percent of the children. With this approach we jumped to 50 percent. >> VOICEOVER: The volunteers are keen to take on more and more responsibility. >> ESTHER: We live in a very remote, rural area and there are so many diseases here which affect us. So, if more interventions are introduced, we will have fewer sick people in the community. >> VOICEOVER: The challenge now is to see whether other communities across Africa can achieve the same success. >> DALJIT DHALIWAL: That's all for this edition of 21st Century. I'm Daljit Dhaliwal. We'll see you next time. Until then, goodbye. >> TITLE: 21st Century a production of United Nations Television Department of Public Information http://www.viewchange.org/videos/unia_0880 <p>People who are blind and partially sighted have traditionally struggled to take advantage of digital technology, particularly in developing countries. But a new Adaptive Technology Center in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa is changing that.&nbsp;</p> Fri, 28 May 2010 21:20:36 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/unia_0880 Blindness, Ethiopia, UNESCO, International Telecommunication Union, Addis Ababa, United Nations, Economic development, UN in Action, Information technology, Technology >> VOICEOVER: Graduation day for a special group of people. Despite being blind or visually impaired, they've recently completed a course in computer use. For years, people with similar disabilities around the world were deprived of the benefits brought about by digital technology. Now computers can literally speak, making them accessible to those who can't see. In Ethiopia, in the Horn of Africa, for example, more than 500,000 people are blind. Millions of others are living with varying degrees of partial loss of sight. To help the blind and visually impaired take advantage of computer know-how and skills, the Adaptive Technology Center for the Blind was established in Addis Ababa four years ago. The General Manager of the center is Tamiru Ewnetu. >> TAMIRU EWNETU: This technology is new for our country, and many blind people are using it nowadays in their offices and schools, and they are accessing information independently: reading and writing. >> VOICEOVER: With support from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the center acquired new computers and adaptive devices such as voice synthesizers and Braille printers. Head of the ITU Regional Office for Africa is Brahima Sanou. >> BRAHIMA SANOU: It's part of the framework of our activities, the framework of our pilot projects, to actually help and show to the whole community worldwide in Geneva in December how information technologies can be used today. >> VOICEOVER: The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, provided funds for training. Thirty-four blind people have been trained in the use of the new technology. One of them is 37-year-old lawyer, Metmku Yohannes. >> METMKU YOHANNES: This technology gave me an access that I didn't have before to the Internet and a lot of other information. And also it made me self-supporting. >> VOICEOVER: Temesgen Mulleta is also blind. He has been employed by the Ministry of Mines for 21 years. He's already using the adaptive technology he acquired through the training. His job's been made easier and his productivity enhanced. If they are given a chance, the blind and visually impaired can play a more constructive role in the socio-economic development of their countries. Making the information technology available to them will be among the issues to be discussed at the ITU-sponsored World Summit on the Information Society to be held in December this year in Geneva, Switzerland. This report was prepared by Kamil Taha for the United Nations.