Kilimanjaro Centre for Community Ophthalmology

Kilimanjaro Centre for Community Ophthalmology (KCCO) was established in 2001 in response to the VISION 2020 initiative. Seva has partnered with KCCO since their inception. KCCO has two offices, including a main administrative hub located in South Africa and an office in Tanzania, which houses many of the staff members who conduct hands-on work with programs that span across eastern Africa.

KCCO is the largest organization in Africa dedicated to reducing blindness through community ophthalmology training. KCCO is radically expanding its training programs, developing community service projects and providing consulting and mentoring to local eye care programs throughout Africa. Through the Global Sight Initiative network, KCCO is building the service capacity of eye institutes in Benin, Burundi, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda to provide affordable and accessible eye care services as well as multi-disciplinary training for clinical and management personnel. KCCO is continuously expanding its reach into more countries.

With Seva’s support, KCCO partners with local governmental hospitals to train community health workers, conduct outreach trips to rural communities without regular access to eye care, provide clinical training for ophthalmologists and cataract surgeons, and providing funds for medical treatments for those who cannot afford them.