The power of sight: Championing eye health awareness and proactive intervention

An eye doctor holds a handheld instrument near a man's face during an eye exam; the patient in an orange sweater looks focused and calm.

Published

As Eye Health Awareness Month shines a spotlight on preventable vision loss, communities across Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, South Africa, and Tunisia face a silent yet profound public health challenge. Retinal conditions—including Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD), Diabetic Retinopathy (DR), and Diabetic Macular Edema (DME)—frequently progress without early visual warnings. Microscopic changes in the eye often remain hidden until severe, irreversible vision loss occurs, underscoring the urgent need for a coordinated, multi-nation response.

In response to this shared burden, Roche Pharma—in a strategic alliance with regional patient dvocacy organisations—has expanded "The Power of Sight" campaign into a unified five-nation coalition. By uniting cross-sector partners across North and Southern Africa, this initiative elevates disease awareness, strengthens holistic patient support networks, and advances equitable access to timely, proactive retinal care.

Closing awareness and care gaps

Across the region, strategic partnerships are directly addressing critical care gaps: the disparity between state-of-the-art medical innovations and real-world public awareness, patient support infrastructure, and access to early treatment.

A major driver of this gap is behavioural. For example, 60% of people living with diabetes skip their essential annual eye exams1 , waiting until severe visual impairment manifests before seeking care. By then, treatment is often reactive rather than preventive. Recent South African research conducted at the Laudium Community Health Centre in Tshwane underscores the urgency of bridging this gap by embedding routine retinal screening directly into primary healthcare services.

Waiting for visual symptoms to appear before seeing an eye care professional is often too late. Medical innovations are shifting our approach to blindness from reactive treatment to proactive protection. An eye test can detect microscopic changes long before you notice any shift in your vision, making early detection our greatest weapon against preventable blindness.

Dr Lauren Sekhuthe

Country Medical Director at Roche Pharma South Africa

The core vision of The Power of Sight initiative is to reframe vision care not as an isolated clinical issue, but as a vital pillar of personal independence, economic stability, and community wellbeing. Transforming eye health requires seamless cross-sector collaboration: frontline patient alliances mobilise community advocacy and support networks, private industry partners advance clinical research and therapeutics, and health ministries work to integrate standardised screening into primary healthcare pathways and diabetes management hubs.

Combining efforts and programs between nations, will improve the approach and enhances the impact in confronting the growing burden of preventable sight loss. Such regional alliances help us align clinical standards, expand early screening, and ensure that innovative vision care reaches patients before irreversible damage occurs. Uniting our efforts is essential to transforming eye health into national priorities.

Mohamed Mokdad

Disease Area Squad Lead Ophthalmology, Roche Tunisia & Libya

Closing the regional human resource & access gap

While 4.8 million people across Africa are blind2 and 16.6 million live with visual impairment, less than 1% of the global supply of ophthalmologists practice on the continent.3 Addressing this acute specialist deficit requires expanding digital-first screening networks to bridge urban-rural care delivery divides through robust cross-sector partnerships and targeted healthcare infrastructure investment:

South Africa: Facing a severe geographical disparity in specialist distribution, 70% of Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) cases remain completely undiagnosed4, allowing preventable microvascular complications to advance unchecked.
Algeria: With an adult diabetes prevalence of 17.5% (4.76 million individuals),5 an estimated 31.7% to 50% of cases—roughly 1.5 million people—remain undiagnosed,6 severely stretching existing clinical screening capacity.
Tunisia: Despite national prevention frameworks, 78% of diabetic patients have never
received a specialised retinal examination7, and 51% are unaware of the risks associated with Diabetic Macular Edema (DME).
8Egypt & Morocco: Integrated into the regional initiative to establish standardised digital screening workflows, these markets are prioritising AI-supported triage models to optimise patient funnelling from primary care units to tertiary eye care facilities.

In Algeria, rising diabetes makes visual complications a major challenge, compounded by delayed consultations and a critical lack of local data. Addressing this requires public awareness alongside support for strained public hospitals. To bridge these data gaps, our regional TAMRRA study (nAMD & DME) will generate crucial clinical insights for authorities and HCPs. Our role is to support this national effort through multidisciplinary collaboration and public-private synergy to transform care pathways. Ultimately, preserving vision goes far beyond medical treatment: leveraging data to anticipate needs protects the autonomy, dignity, and future of thousands of diabetic patients.

Dr. Toufik Ben Oussaid

Medical Partner, Roche Algeria & Scientific Lead, TAMRRA study Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco

Eliminating the "visibility gap" to protect workforce productivity

In many African countries, Type 2 Diabetes has transitioned into a "youth epidemic", frequently striking adults around age 40 during their peak earning years. Preventable vision loss directly undermines Gross Value Added (GVA) across all five key economies, making disease awareness and early health system intervention imperative:

South Africa: Approximately 89% of lost economic productivity due to visual impairment is concentrated directly within the working-age demographic (ages 20–59).9
Algeria: Diabetic complications result in an average loss of 15 working years per patient, causing substantial national productivity erosion and workforce absenteeism. To tackle this, authorities reactivated the Committee for the Fight Against Blindness, Supporting this momentum, Roche Algeria is finalizing strategic partnerships with this Committee.
Tunisia: Disability and early retirement driven by vision loss and metabolic complications drain an estimated 0.8% of national GDP annually10
Egypt & Morocco: Expanding early-detection protocols serves as a structural lever to safeguard active taxpayers, converting latent chronic disease burdens into protected human capital

Preserving vision sustains both individual independence and societal resilience—protecting personal livelihood and dignity while safeguarding workforce productivity and broader economic stability.

Elhoussam Elroumy

Medical Value Lead Morocco

Addressing preventable vision loss among working-age populations is both a medical imperative and a strategic economic necessity. Safeguarding human capital and sustaining workforce productivity directly protects national prosperity across Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, South Africa, and Tunisia. By mobilising robust cross-sector partnerships, integrating proactive, digital-first screening, and enabling timely therapeutic interventions, The Power of Sight coalition is actively shaping resilient health systems across all five nations. This unified effort sets a transformative standard for healthcare collaboration—turning vision care into an enduring foundation for long-term economic strength and community wellbeing.

ZA-00003349 EXP: 20/10/2028