Acumen Fund Announces Two Investments Providing Advanced Eye Care Services in India ... (ata Githeko an ophthalmologist specializ...)

Acumen Fund Announces Two Investments Providing Advanced Eye Care Services in India and Kenya

Date:11/5/2009

ata Githeko, an ophthalmologist specializing in pediatrics and retina care, founded UHEAL based on his experience as a doctor working at PCEA Kikuyu eye centre, one of the major eye care hospital facilities in Kenya, where there is a two-month wait for an appointment and a two-to-four month wait for surgery. Often, a wait of such duration causes a condition to worsen until it becomes inoperable, leading to irreversible loss of sight. Dr. Githeko watched his father go blind from diabetic retinopathy. UHEAL will work to help prevent that from happening to others through its services, mobile eye units and training.

“Tackling loss of sight due to diabetes in low-income communities before irreversible damage occurs is challenging because patients generally do not identify the problem early enough and often seek treatment after it is too late,” said Biju Mohandas, Acumen Fund’s East Africa Manager. “UHEAL and Acumen seek to intervene in this cycle with new solutions, and we look forward to sharing our lessons learned with the world.”

To learn more about Acumen Fund, PVRI and UHEAL, and to follow PVRI and UHEAL’s progress, visit www.acumenfund.org.

About Acumen Fund
Acumen Fund is a nonprofit venture fund that invests in market-oriented approaches to deliver critical, affordable goods and services to the world’s poor. Acumen Fund focuses on the convergence of philanthropic capital and business expertise to produce sustainable, scalable enterprises that reach underserved markets and increase access to the opportunities of the global economy. Acumen Fund’s average investments range from $300,000 to $2 million in size. Acumen Fund has been investing in India and East Africa since 2001, focusing on a wide range of sustainable, scalable businesses that use market-based approaches to deliver products an
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Acumen Fund Announces Two Investments Providing Advanced Eye Care Services in India ...(ata Githeko an ophthalmologist specializ...),Health