Challenging misconceptions: Spreading the good news about cataract surgery
Stories | September 17, 2024
Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness worldwide. Despite being highly treatable through surgery, many people in the communities in which we work do not access this treatment. While this is in part due to local eye health services being inaccessible or inadequate, it is also due to misconceptions about the cause and treatment of cataracts.
In Indonesia, CBM Australia supported an inclusive eye heath project to improve local eye health services and conduct eye screening and surgeries. Working with a local partner, part of this work included community awareness raising and going to communities telling them about the causes of cataracts and where and how to seek treatment.
Through this outreach, health workers Supriyati and Maslikah, met many people who still believed that their cataracts were caused by genies or demons that they accidentally encountered in places such as rivers and haunted forests. Many of these people chose to visit a shaman for treatment, with some traveling long distances to see a well-known shaman multiple times.
Changing attitudes and long held beliefs is not easy. To help change minds, the Supriyati and Maslikah invited one patient who had successfully undergone cataract surgery to talk to community members about their experience. They managed to influence one person who had been seeking treatment through a shaman, to visit the hospital for cataract surgery. Their surgery was also successful, and they too then spread the word, influencing other members to seek treatment at the eye hospital. This shows the ripple effect from the project as more people are still being convinced to undergo cataract surgery.
“Come on, let’s spread this good information to the whole community through patients who have successfully undergone cataract surgery. Seeing the happiness of cataract patients because they can see again and then saying thank you, my heart always trembles. It’s a joy for me.” – Supriyati
CBM Australia acknowledges the support of the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP) and thanks our implementing partner.
https://www.cbm.org.au/stories/challenging-misconceptions
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