Agatha Aboe

A vision for sight/ A woman of vision

Meet Agatha Aboe, a doctor in Ghana who helped her country eliminate trachoma, one of the world’s oldest diseases and its leading cause of preventable blindness. Agatha’s door-to-door mission is the story of her unwavering commitment to leave no person untreated.

Agatha had a passion for eye health from a young age. Her parents encouraged her to become a doctor and use her intellect to help as many people as possible. After graduating medical school with a specialty in ophthalmology, Agatha worked in community health, where her credentials were often ignored by patients. “No matter how many times I introduced myself as a doctor, the response would be “ooh, you are a nurse.”

Two decades ago, Agatha visited communities in Northern Ghana where trachoma was endemic and was shocked by far-reaching impact of the disease. The eye pain and sensitivity to light meant children were unable to play outdoors or attend schoo. Women were struggling with daily tasks, and many were on the cusp of blindness. Agatha knew trachoma was preventable, but treatment and education were failing to reach enough people, especially women.

So, she decided to do something about it.

Agatha’s mission was daunting: 1 million Ghanaians needed trachoma treatment, but she refused to be intimidated. In 2002, she led a project within international non-profit SightSavers to eliminate trachoma. Under her leadership, health teams went from house to house across every city and village, often travelling great distances on foot or motorbike and even canoe. Thousands of local health workers and volunteers were trained to run eye screening clinics, antibiotics were distributed and when necessary, surgery was performed.

With four times more women suffering trachoma-related blindness than men, Agatha focused on empowering women to improve their family’s hygiene and worked to dispel the local myths preventing them from seeking treatment. Over fifteen years, mothers helped drive Agatha’s vision- conducting radio learning classes, discussing hygiene strategies, and approaching NGOs to improve water access in their communities.

In 2018 Ghana was validated by the World Health Organisation as eliminating trachoma and today Agatha is helping other countries do the same. She remains committed to leaving no one behind in fight to end the disease and is passionate about creating more opportunities for women in healthcare.

“My passion is saving the sight of people and ensuring people don’t fall into the cycle of poverty due to an avoidable blinding disease. To solve an issue that affects more women than men, women need to be at the fore front of this fight locally, nationally, and globally.”