For more than 20 years, Rotary International has been on a campaign to eradicate polio from the world.
With only 18 new cases reported in the six months ending in March — 15 in Pakistan and three in Afghanistan — the service organization is setting its sights on reducing the rate of needless blindness in developing countries.
Through a partnership with the American Academy of Ophthalmology, Rotary Clubs in the U.S. are hosting visiting eye specialists for two weeks each year.
The visiting doctors learn how ophthalmology is practiced at the community level and attend the academy’s annual meeting, where they take part in instructional and skill transfer classes and learn of the latest technologies in their field.
The Rotary Club of Jacksonville joined the program in 2013 and on Monday, heard a report from members of the club’s Mike Williams Scholar Committee. The group was named after the late Mike Williams, who served as the club’s 83rd president in 1994-95.
“His proudest achievement was when he was president of the club and they parlayed $50,000 from the club into a $900,000 gift to Mercy Ships,” said his son, David Williams.
Through donations from club members and matching funds from the Edna Sproull Williams Foundation and from Rotary International, the club hosted four African ophthalmologists from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Ivory Coast and Togo in November. Four more physicians are scheduled to visit Jacksonville in October.
Suzanne Judas, committee co-chair, said the club has made a five-year commitment to the international service project and hopes to build on the work done last year.
When the visiting doctors return to their home countries, they share with their colleagues what they have learned, making a higher level of care available to patients.
“We are training the trainers,” said Dr. Jerry Knauer, club member.
He said the goal is to host 88 eye specialists from 33 developing nations in the next four years.
“We can make life better for tens of thousands of patients,” Knauer said.
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