In a recent call with the Know The Glow team, Megan Webber, Co-founder, Helene Dameris, Director of Global Outreach; and Ruth Ngaruiya, Program Manager for Africa, connected with Mr. Bekalu Getahun Agaje, Assistant Professor in Clinical Optometry at Hawassa University College of Medicine and Health Sciences and current President of the Ethiopian Optometric Association.
With over ten years of experience, Mr. Bekalu teaches optometry students and ophthalmology residents while also seeing patients through the university hospital and private eye care centers and optical settings. Though he doesn’t come from a family of medical professionals, Bekalu discovered his calling in optometry, a calling that has clearly led to deep dedication.
During the conversation, Bekalu spoke about the urgent need to raise awareness of childhood eye diseases in Ethiopia, especially retinoblastoma. While it is one of the most common childhood cancers, public knowledge about it remains very limited. He pointed to the importance of increasing public education, not only within the eye care sector but across broader communities and policy makers. He noted that while professionals in the field are making efforts, more needs to be done to reach parents, teachers, and health influencers at every level of society.
Bekalu expressed a strong interest in finding ways the Ethiopian Optometric Association could engage with Know The Glow to help shine a light on conditions like retinoblastoma and the more than 20 vision conditions the Glow can possibly indicate. With Ethiopia continuing to face gaps in eye health education, he believes shared efforts could help amplify existing outreach and support advocacy work.
He shared the activities the association is already undertaking, including outreach efforts that provide screenings, awareness, refractions, and full eye exams not only for underserved communities but also for the broader public and government leaders. While general awareness about eye health is still low in many parts of Ethiopia, especially beyond trachoma, he has noticed that communities respond positively when they are reached directly. In rural areas especially, people’s understanding and openness to seeking care increases once they’re provided information that resonates. This shift is critical. For years, trachoma, previously affecting over 40% of the population, was the main condition people associated with eye problems. Now, with its much lower prevalence, there’s a real opportunity to bring attention to other conditions education and awareness can help identify like glaucoma, pediatric cataract, refractive error, and retinoblastoma.
Key challenges remain and Bekalu highlighted that many families delay seeking care due to cost concerns, even when services are relatively affordable. Others first consult traditional healers, seeking formal care only when problems worsen. In many cases, patients wait for free community campaigns organized by hospitals and NGO partners to receive treatment, sometimes arriving at hospitals when it’s too late for certain conditions to be effectively managed like in the case of glaucoma, malignancies and retinal detachment.
Even with these challenges, Bekalu remains optimistic. At Hawassa University, where he teaches, there is a noticeable rise in interest in optometry, and more students are enrolling in training programs. This growth offers hope that, over time, a larger and better-distributed eye care workforce will reduce the community’s dependence on periodic outreach efforts. With more professionals in the field, timely diagnosis and treatment can become more accessible, helping to prevent avoidable vision loss.
For Know The Glow, meeting with Bekalu was inspiring. The conversation further cemented KTG’s commitment to working in the region and had the team excited about the opportunities to engage with Bekalu and his team there. Bekalu’s efforts are already advancing eye care through education, outreach and persistence, and KTG looks forward to assisting him with even greater outreach and impact. With committed eye care professionals like Bekalu leading the way, the future looks very bright for the children of Ethiopia.
