Our work in Mongolia

Orbis has been fighting avoidable blindness in Mongolia since 1989. The Flying Eye Hospital has made regular visits to Mongolia, and Orbis projects in particular focus on preventing child blindness.

Avoidable Blindness in Mongolia

In Mongolia, there are an estimated 340,000 people with vision loss. Of these, 15,000 people are blind.

Access to high quality, affordable eye care services are limited in both urban and rural areas.

Lack of equipment, training and infrastructure are major barriers to adequate care. As well as this, there is a need for a more comprehensive framework to treat children’s eye disease.

Sight loss disproportionately affects women, with women making up 57% of people living with blindness.

340,000

people live with vision loss

15,000

people in Mongolia are blind

57%

of people living with blindness are women

“Orbis has affected my life greatly”

Meet Dr Battsetseg. She works as a paediatric ophthalmologist at the National Centre for Maternal and Child Health (NCMCH) in Mongolia’s capital city, Ulaanbaatar.

As one of the few doctors that treat children’s eyes in Mongolia Dr Battsetseg works tirelessly to improve her skills and knowledge with the help of Orbis. Here is her story.

Saving Sight in Mongolia

Working with our partners and thanks to the help of supporters like you, Orbis hasve:

Trained hundreds of eye health professionals to screen for, diagnose and treat eye conditions in babies and children
Educated eye health professionals about retinopathy of prematurity and the use of important diagnostic tests such as the red reflex test
Supported five diabetic clinics to use retinal imaging to screen for diabetic retinopathy
Supported the establishment or improvement of four secondary hospitals, three tertiary hospitals and one training lab

“With the help of doctors here and abroad, Sarnai is doing well”

Sarnai, aged 5, lives in rural Mongolia. Last year when a swelling appeared on her eyelid Sarnai and her family travelled the 300km journey to the capital city where treatment was available. After Sarnai’s doctor consulted with an Orbis medical expert online they discovered what was wrong.

Sarnai’s grandmother, Tserendolgor, shares her story.

Impact In 2022

41,904

Adults and children screened

76,836

Patient visits to eye health services

1,662

Glasses prescribed

What’s Next?

Orbis is working with partners to:

Train and increase the number of doctors to treat newborns with an eyesight condition
Improve screening and diagnosis of retinopathy of prematurity
Improve diabetic retinopathy care by strengthening collaboration between diabetes and ophthalmology clinics