Online Reporter
Blessing Ticha Karubwa Online Writer
A COMMUNITY eye-care initiative in Victoria Falls is bringing free vision screening closer to residents, while uncovering potentially sight-threatening conditions that often go undetected.
The programme, being coordinated by Dress A Child Initiative and Pamozi in partnership with Eyepod Eye Clinic, has screened hundreds of people at two Victoria Falls council clinics and provided further examinations to patients referred for specialist attention.
Between July 24 and 31 this year, 227 people were screened while 106 people were examined as part of the initiative.
Some patients were referred to Eyepod after initial screening revealed the need for spectacles or further investigation.
In an interview, Gracious Phiri, an optometrist at Eyepod Victoria Falls who also doubles as the Health And Welfare Programme Coordinator for Dress A Child Initiative, said the project is about more than simply distributing spectacles.
“The best that came out of this is that not only were we issuing free prescription spectacles, we got the chance to raise awareness on eye health and to catch other silent vision-threatening conditions like glaucoma,” Phiri said.
The initiative received donated frames from Pamozi, a Germany-based organisation with an inventory of more than 17 000 lenses and frames, which donated the frames to Dress A Child Initiative, a locally registered private voluntary organisation based in Victoria Falls.
The donation has enabled the programme to target people who might otherwise struggle to access eye care and prescription spectacles.
Phiri said the initiative deliberately started in Victoria Falls because that is where Dress A Child Initiative was established, with the intention of eventually expanding to other parts of Zimbabwe.
The programme is guided by the motto “Your Vision, Our Mission” and targets less privileged members of communities, with the broader goal of reducing avoidable blindness.
The project builds on an earlier intervention carried out in 2025, when Dress A Child Initiative, Pamozi, and Eyepod Victoria Falls screened and examined students at Mosi-oa-Tunya High School.
For Phiri, the growing programme represents an opportunity to tackle vision problems before they become permanent disabilities.
While spectacles can correct refractive errors and improve quality of life, the screenings also provide an important gateway to detecting conditions that may not immediately present obvious symptoms.
As the initiative grows, its success may ultimately be measured not only by the number of spectacles distributed, but by the number of people whose sight-threatening conditions are detected early enough to prevent avoidable loss of vision.
