KnowTheGlow recently had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Fidèle Kabego, who serves as an assistant in the Ophthalmology Department at the Hôpital Provincial Général de Référence de Bukavu (Provincial General Referral Hospital of Bukavu) since 2019. This tertiary referral center in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo also serves as the teaching hospital for the Catholic University of Bukavu. Dr. Kabego is currently a final-year ophthalmology resident at the Abomey-Calavi University.
During the conversation with KnowTheGlow Co-founder Megan Webber and Program Manager Ruth Ngaruiya, Dr. Kabego shared his experiences caring for children with serious eye conditions and the realities of delivering specialist eye care in a region where resources remain limited.
Dr. Kabego is the second member of his family to pursue a career in medicine, but the first to specialise in ophthalmology. His decision to specialize was shaped by the overwhelming need for eye care in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is home to more than 115 million people yet has only around 150 ophthalmologists nationwide. In South Kivu (main city Bukavu), around eight ophthalmologists serve a very large population. Recognising this tremendous need, Dr. Kabego chose a specialty where he knew he could make a lasting difference for both individual patients and the future of eye care in his country.
Ophthalmology training in the DRC remains particularly challenging. The country has few ophthalmology residency training programs, with a limited training capacity. One recent program has been established in the eastern region of the country, organized as a consortium between the cities of Bukavu, Goma, and Butembo. This eastern training program was launched after Dr. Kabego began his residency training abroad in Benin, while continuing to play an active role in his home department’s clinical, academic, and research activities.
He began his residency in 2022 with sponsorship from CBM and his hospital and is expected to complete his training very soon. Throughout his residency, he has distinguished himself through an outstanding academic record, with regular participation in major African ophthalmology conferences, including the College of Ophthalmology of Eastern, Central and Southern Africa (COECSA) Congress. He has also completed clinical training at Afyonkarahisar Health Sciences University in Türkiye, further strengthening his clinical expertise. Upon graduation, he will return to the Provincial General Referral Hospital of Bukavu, where he will become one of only three ophthalmologists on staff. His return reflects a strong commitment to advancing specialist eye care, medical education, and clinical capacity in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo
Dr. Kabego describes retinoblastoma as an often-overlooked childhood cancer in eastern Congo. The first barrier is simply awareness. Most people, including many healthcare workers, do not know what retinoblastoma is or what to watch for. The second barrier is access. Many families live far from any facility capable of diagnosing the disease at all, and even when a case is identified, Bukavu itself does not yet have a center equipped to provide chemotherapy. Patients must travel to Rwanda, roughly five hours away by bus, to begin treatment before returning to Bukavu for further care. Some retinoblastoma centers in other major cities in the DRC are so distant that reaching them requires air travel.
Compounding the distance is the cost families must absorb largely on their own, as transportation and treatment expenses are rarely covered through any formal support system. Dr. Kabego described children who are diagnosed but whose families simply cannot afford to reach Rwanda for chemotherapy, placing life-saving treatment beyond their reach despite having received a diagnosis. Support networks for these families are still limited, though the hospital, a public hospital managed by the Catholic Archdiocese of Bukavu, occasionally finds informal ways to help those with the greatest need .
Despite these obstacles, Dr. Kabego and his colleagues have not waited for a perfect system before acting. During Retinoblastoma Awareness Week this year, his hospital ran an awareness effort using social media and radio to help the community understand what retinoblastoma is and why it matters. He is also involved in an internal study assessing how well hospital staff currently understand the disease, with results expected within the month, work that echoes a similar effort recently completed by his colleague Dr. Yves Kyembwa. These initiatives reflect a growing commitment among ophthalmologists across eastern Congo to strengthen awareness, improve early detection, and build a stronger foundation for childhood eye care.
Dr. Kabego believes that increasing awareness among both communities and frontline healthcare workers is one of the most effective ways to improve outcomes, enabling children to be referred for specialist care before the disease reaches an advanced stage. He sees public education, stronger referral pathways, and continued training for healthcare providers as essential steps toward ensuring that more children receive timely diagnosis and treatment.
Looking ahead, Dr. Kabego hopes to see a dedicated retinoblastoma treatment center established in Bukavu at the Provincial General Referral Hospital, recognizing that a country as vast as the Democratic Republic of the Congo requires more than a single treatment center in Kinshasa to adequately serve its population. He also hopes to increase the number of trained ophthalmologists in Bukavu. Although the Catholic University of Bukavu offers postgraduate medical specialty training in several disciplines, it does not yet have an ophthalmology residency program. Beyond his commitment to community eye care, Dr. Kabego envisions an academic career that will allow him, together with his colleagues, to develop such a program at the Catholic University of Bukavu and contribute to training future ophthalmologists locally, reducing the need for residents to complete their education across multiple cities or abroad.
For Dr. Kabego, caring for children today and helping train the ophthalmologists of tomorrow are inseparable parts of building a stronger future for eye care in eastern Congo.
KnowTheGlow is grateful to Dr. Kabego for sharing his experiences and his vision for improving childhood eye care in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. We are honoured that he and his colleagues at the Provincial General Referral Hospital of Bukavu have expressed their support for our upcoming awareness campaign, which will run from October through December 2026. Together, we look forward to raising awareness of leukocoria, strengthening referral pathways, promoting earlier diagnosis, and helping ensure that more children receive timely, sight-saving care.
