Recently, fourth-year optometry student Alberto Baptista and his colleagues conducted a community outreach activity at the Maratane Refugee Centre in northern Mozambique, using Know The Glow awareness materials to educate families about the importance of recognizing early warning signs of serious childhood eye conditions.
Maratane Refugee Centre is home to families from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds, making accessible health communication especially important. To ensure that key childhood eye health messages reached as many people as possible, Alberto and his colleagues adapted Know The Glow materials and delivered awareness messages using local languages. The team also recorded educational videos that are being translated into Portuguese, Swahili, and Makhuwa to expand their reach within the community and beyond.
Alberto, a leader representative for the African Federation of Optometry Students, highlighted the urgent need for greater awareness of childhood eye diseases in Mozambique. Conditions such as retinoblastoma are often detected too late, reducing treatment options and leading to avoidable vision loss and even loss of life. Raising awareness among parents and caregivers is therefore a critical step toward earlier help-seeking and improved outcomes for children.
Mozambique faces significant eye health workforce challenges, with only a small number of ophthalmologists serving the country’s population. Optometry itself is a relatively new profession in the country, with the first and only school of optometry established in Nampula Province in 2009. In this context, community outreach and health education play an important role in helping families recognize warning signs and seek timely care.
We are grateful to Alberto, his colleagues, and the partner organizations that supported this outreach for championing childhood eye health awareness in the Maratane community. Their efforts demonstrate how local leadership and collaboration can bring life-changing information to families who need it most.
Together, we continue working toward a future where every child has the opportunity for early detection, timely referral, and access to sight-saving care.
