Recently, the Know The Glow team reconnected with Dr. Kumale Tolesa, a pediatric ophthalmologist at Jimma University Medical Center, One of the largest university hospitals in Ethiopia.In addition to being a dedicated member of the national retinoblastoma team, she serves as Secretary of the Ophthalmological Society of Ethiopia. Dr. Kumale coordinates care between pediatric ophthalmologists and local NGOs, ensuring that children diagnosed with retinoblastoma receive timely and often fully subsidized treatment. Government-backed insurance covers most medical costs, while local non-governmental organizations frequently step in to support additional diagnostic needs.
This conversation reignited a connection first formed at an ISOO conference, where Dr. Kumale took part in an awareness video initiative featuring doctors sharing about the importance of watching for The Glow. She shared that despite not considering herself a “media person,” her video shared on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok received remarkable engagement and quickly became her most-viewed content.
Dr. Kumale is a strong advocate for public awareness, an essential priority given that a staggering 75% of retinoblastoma cases in Ethiopia are diagnosed at an advanced, extraocular stage, particularly among children from the southern regions. Many arrive at hospitals when the disease has already progressed significantly. With limited awareness of early warning signs such as leukocoria, many parents miss the critical window when treatment could save both vision and life.
She also highlighted the complexities of atypical presentations, explaining that some cases now appear at birth or even in older children and can easily be mistaken for other conditions. A major challenge in managing these cases is the limited availability of advanced diagnostic tools, including genetic testing, and the lack of equipment and training for eye-conserving treatments such as cryotherapy, and intra-arterial chemotherapy. In response, Ethiopia’s national retinoblastoma team made up of doctors from the country’s five treatment centers meets regularly to align on early detection strategies and care coordination. Their work is supported by global partners such as the Aslan Project, AMCC and the Global Retinoblastoma Network, as well as NGOs like Tapcco, which provide financial and logistical support to families awaiting chemotherapy.
In one particularly heartbreaking case, Dr. Kumale recounted the story of an orphan child and is even now fighting for his life after losing both eyes because of Retinoblastoma. Stories like this bring urgency to her efforts and highlight the human cost of delayed diagnosis. She emphasized the need for not only technical resources but also emotional and community support for families navigating pediatric cancer. She also stressed the growing importance of genetic testing to better understand the rising number of familial and de novo retinoblastoma cases, a development she links to improved survival rates in previous generations.
Beyond her clinical work, Dr. Kumale is a dedicated educator, lecturing to dozens of residents and numerous undergraduate students at the university.
Her dedication is not only professional but deeply personal, evident in her own journey to becoming a pediatric ophthalmologist. Initially torn between pediatrics and surgery, she ultimately chose ophthalmology, humorously noting that “two surgeons in one house is not possible,” given her husband’s profession. Dr. Kumale took on a pediatric ophthalmology fellowship offered by Cure Blindness Project at a time when few had ventured into the specialty in Ethiopia. That pivotal decision has since transformed the lives of countless children in Ethiopia.
Assisting KTG with translations for Ethiopia into Oromo, Tigrinya and Somali, Dr. Kumale will be extending her reach even further through awareness messaging planned for the nation. With the COECSA 2025 conference taking place in Addis Ababa in August of this year and related awareness efforts planned to coincide with this major event, both Know The Glow and Dr. Kumale remain aligned in a shared mission: to ensure that no child’s vision, and no family’s hope, is lost to lack of awareness.
