Words by Smiley Team
An inspirational woman in her early 30s has recently won an award for her work being the first and only eye doctor – ophthalmologist – in Uganda’s Karamoja subregion.
Dr Gladys Atto is in her early 30s and has recently been awarded the Uganda Medical Association Women in Medicine award. Eighty-three thousand of the estimated 3.1 million people with vision loss in Uganda are blind, yet there are only around 45 ophthalmologists in the country, the majority of which are working in urban centres.
Dr Atto completed an MMed in Ophthalmology, sponsored by international organisation Sightsavers, in 2018 at the age of 29. Now in her early 30s, she’s a Regional Ophthalmologist and passionate about leaving no one behind when it comes to eye health in the remote, high poverty and agriculture focused Karamoja subregion.
Talking about her award win, Dr Gladys Atto said: “It’s encouraged me to work even harder and makes me feel like the work I’m doing on the outskirts of Uganda is being recognised.
“Public health is so important, and prevention goes a long way. More interventions, preventative measures, education talks, and community involvement is what I see as the way forward for eye health in Uganda.”
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As the only ophthalmologist, Dr Atto supervises and trains colleagues and attends clinics to screen and treat patients. She also performs surgery for eye conditions and makes in-person visits to people with disabilities who can’t travel to clinics, but her impact goes far beyond these clinical activities.
Through supporting professional development in the eye health sector, Sightsavers empowers dynamic individuals such as Dr Atto to make systemic changes and add exponential value to health systems.
Three years after her training, Dr Atto’s partnership with Sightsavers continues; supporting construction of an eye care building at Moroto Regional Referral Hospital and a UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office UK Aid Match funded project to improve access to eye care. Having completed further study in public health for eye care, she plans to step up advocacy to ensure no one is left behind in eye health.
Sightsavers is an international organisation that works in more than 30 low and middle income countries to end avoidable blindness, treat and eliminate neglected tropical diseases, and promote equality of opportunity for people with disabilities. Sightsavers vision is of a world where no one is blind from avoidable causes and people with disabilities participate equally in society. It is a registered UK charity.
Globally 2.2 billion people have a vision impairment and of these, at least 1 billion people have a vision impairment or blindness that could have been prevented or is yet to be addressed. This burden weighs more heavily on poorer countries, and on marginalised communities. And projections show that global demand for eye care is set to surge in the coming years.
For more information, visit www.sightsavers.org.
