Jalikatu Mustapha Consulting Ophthalmologist and Deputy Minister of Health, Government of Sierra Leone Freetown, Sierra Leone A dynamic young ophthalmologist, Dr. Jalikatu Mustapha has won international acclaim for her efforts to end preventable blindness in Sierra Leone, a country with just six ophthalmologists serving a population of more than 8 million people. Mustapha led the country’s national eye program from 2019 to 2023, when she was appointed deputy health minister, and has helped expand access to preventive eye care and sight-saving surgeries for cataracts, a leading cause of blindness in many low-income countries. Since 2019, she has been working with Duke eye surgeon and DGHI affiliate Lloyd Williams to teach more complex eye surgeries, such as corneal transplants, to local doctors. In June 2022, Mustapha became the first Sierra Leonean doctor to perform a corneal transplant in the country. She and Williams are now working to establish a center of excellence for ophthalmology care in Sierra Leone, which would serve as a hub for eye care and training for the West African region. I am working to change … A primary goal of mine is to end preventable blindness in Sierra Leone. Despite the progress made in eye health in Sierra Leone over the past decade, there are still thousands of people who are unnecessarily blind or suffering from eye ailments that can be treated. My goal is to build an efficient, equitable and inclusive eye health program that caters to every single Sierra Leonean, thus ending preventable blindness in the country. The biggest challenges we face … Sierra Leone has six ophthalmologists and seven optometrists for the entire population of 8 million people. This leaves millions of people without access to basic eye health services, especially in the rural areas. There is also limited resource allocation to the eye health sector from central government, and service provision has been heavily reliant on donor and partner support. This support is sometimes fragmented and uncoordinated, diluting the impact for the population. Partnering with DGHI helps us … Our partnership with the Duke Global Ophthalmology Program has led to the establishment of a national corneal transplant campaign that has resulted in more than 50 successful corneal transplants over the past two years. We are building local capacity and sustainability by training local surgeons and support staff. This partnership also involves provision of vital equipment necessary for high-quality eye health service and has the potential to support innovative eye health education and research in Sierra Leone. Through partnership, we hope to foster a bilateral program from which both parties will benefit in terms of learning exchange, collaborative research and outreach. It’s important for our partners to … … understand the context of Sierra Leone, especially with regard to eye health. It is critical for our partners to consider the needs of the population and the vision and goals of the local staff and community stakeholders, and to work in line with government’s broader goals of ensuring universal health coverage. I am inspired by … … the transformational change we see in our patients’ lives every time we are able to restore their sight through surgery. Many of these people had given up hope of ever having their vision restored, or of regaining their independence and dignity. I am truly grateful to be able to do this. In five years, I hope … … to have a training program in Sierra Leone for ophthalmology residents, fellows and other allied eye health professionals. To do this, we need a critical mass of local faculty, which we are currently building, and partnerships with academic eye health institutions, such as this one with Duke Eye Center. We are also working to build and establish a center of excellence for ophthalmology care in Sierra Leone that can serve the West African region. Our Duke partners are working with us and others to provide technical expertise and planning, and to mobilize the resources we will need to make this a success.
