Many rural Cameroonians suffer from vision impairment, which hinders survival in an area made up of 95% subsistence farmers. Last year, BERUDA's Mobile Eye Clinic provided free eye tests to 1,305 people in 4 villages; 132 were diagnosed with cataracts, at risk of blindness. Only 25 could afford surgery. BERUDA will create an income-generating poultry farm to help fund surgery and prevent disability. Saving patients from blindness will prevent severe poverty in the rural highlands.
Cameroonian lifestyles contribute to loss of vision now more than ever. With 132 patients in Boyo Division diagnosed with cataracts by BERUDA alone, the need for healthcare is high. But 51% of people live on just $2 a day; widespread poverty in the region prevents people from accessing cataract surgery, which costs $135. 80% of households struggle to care for sick or disabled family members, who cannot contribute to their agriculture or their livelihoods and become a burden to their families.
BERUDA will raise seed funds to construct a poultry farm, buy chicks and purchase medicine and vaccines to generate income through chicken sales and finance cataract surgeries for high- and medium-priority patients. It will support the first-year salary for the farm staff until the project is self-sustaining. We estimate selling about 100 chickens per month to fund over 60 (single eye) cataract surgeries in its first year, with plans to increase annually until all high-priority needs are met.
The poultry farm will support the extreme poor with vital healthcare, empowering the rural villages of Belo, Njinikom, Aboh and Fundong with economic stability by ensuring those suffering from vision impairment can continue supporting agriculture and do not become a burden to their families. It will also provide jobs as it will be managed by local staff, with plans to expand significantly in future years. Ultimately, it will provide self-sustaining healthcare to a community stricken by poverty.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
