Speaking about the future of eye care in Ethiopia, Dr. Sisay once told Optometry Today: "I believe that we will eradicate trachoma. Trachoma is the leading infectious disease and Ethiopia has the highest burden of it in the world – more than 46% of the global trachoma burden is in Ethiopia. A significant achievement in recent years has been the location of resources for eliminating blinding trachoma from Ethiopia, with the Government committing to an annual budget to help fight this. I believe that with the current momentum, we will eliminate trachoma in the coming years.
"Understanding the value of eye care is increasing and people are demanding a better eye care service now. By investing in eye care, we are contributing to Orbis achieving sustainable development goals – without eye care, without vision, the vicious cycle of poverty and blindness is there.
"It requires a long-term investment, it requires behavioural change, it requires community and public awareness, and decision-makers taking responsibility. So yes, we have created a momentum, but it is not yet done. People are ageing and life expectancy is increasing, so we have an increased change of experiencing eye care issues. We have a growing ageing population and with that comes age-related macular degeneration, cataract and glaucoma. As a result, the demographic change of eye care diseases from infectious to non-infectious is mounting, so there is a lot of work still to be done."