After having successfully completed a campaign of cataract operations in Rabat, Adeframs (Association pour le Développement des Échanges Franco-Marocains et Sénégalais) plans a new series of operations in the suburbs of Dakar between December 10 and 14, 2007.
Cataract, a disease that progressively opacifies the crystalline lens of the eye, ultimately causes blindness. It may be congenital and damage the view of infants, or strike elderly persons. In hot countries, due to exposure to fierce sunlight and the presence of many sand particles in the air, it affects a large number of persons. In Senegal, doctors estimate that today, 500 000 persons - out of a total population of 11.6 million - are developing a cataract leading to blindness at some time in their lives. In fact, the ablation of the crystalline lens that has become opaque, and its replacement by an implant, is a relatively harmless eye operation, but is much too expensive for the poor families.
