Join Us in our mission to help the world see!
Welcome to Eye Surgeons International (ESI)
Our History and Our Mission
ESI is an approved United States 501(c)3 nonprofit charitable foundation dedicated to curing blindness in underserved populations around the world by providing direct care/surgery, teaching, critical equipment, and modern surgical and clinical facilities.
The main cause of treatable blindness worldwide is cataracts. The number of people blind from cataracts is estimated by the World Health Organization (2025) at approximately 40 million, with many millions more suffering impairment short of blindness. Most people who are blind from cataract worldwide receive no treatment. A high percentage of these patients are in Africa. Africa and other underdeveloped regions have very few eye surgeons, and the number of operations done are far too few to keep up with the ever increasing number of cases of blindness.
Knowing there were so many people suffering from curable blindness, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, we felt we had to help. We were invited to participate in a “cataract camp” at the Zimba Eye Hospital in Zimba, Zambia. We accepted and set out to personally restore vision to as many people as we could. We brought supplies and instruments, and operated, examined and treated patients.
Hundreds of people benefited. It was a joyful experience for all involved. But we realized that even if we brought 100 eye surgeons with us every year, we couldn’t treat everyone who was blind. Something more had to be done.
It has been very rewarding to help many patients directly by personally performing surgery and providing medical treatment, and we will continue to do so—it is our passion and our joy, as it has been during our entire careers at home. But to get to the root of the problem, to set the country and surrounding region on a course where no one need be blind if there was a surgery that could cure them, we have now launched an even more important initiative: we are building and equipping modern facilities, and teaching local ophthalmologists to become skilled teachers in their own right. In this way, the number of local ophthalmologists will greatly increase, many more operations will be done, and the consistent, local care necessary to end unnecessary blindness will finally become available.
Join us in creating this skilled, caring, dedicated army of local eye surgeons, nurses, and staff who will restore sight to their own mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, neighbors, and children. It’s the only way we can cure blindness worldwide.
Thank you to all who support us in our mission.
John Bosetti, M.D. and Nancy Jameson, M.D
OUR MISSION
Our mission is to combat blindness and poverty in underserved regions of the world.
Our current major project is building a comprehensive ophthalmic medical campus in southern Zambia, in the regional capital, Zimba. This state-of-the-art facility will provide high-quality eye care, especially cataract surgeries, and train local eye care professionals to ensure sustainable healthcare delivery. If this project is successful, we plan to repeat it in other greatly underserved areas of the world.
THE PROBLEM: BLINDNESS AND POVERTY IN ZAMBIA
Blindness is a devastating condition that affects millions worldwide, causing immense suffering and perpetuating poverty. Blindness leads to poverty and poverty leads to blindness in a vicious cycle. In the developing world, a blind person cannot perform their usual work, reducing family income. In addition, the blind person must be cared for at all times by another family member, often a child.
That child then cannot attend school, and their lack of education limits their options for a better life. In this way blindness leads to poverty that persists down through generations. This poverty in turn reduces a family’s ability to pay for nutritious food and medical care, the lack of which increases the likelihood of eye problems and other medical diseases. This combination of disease, blindness, and poverty prevents individuals, families, and societies from thriving and reaching their potential. To do our part to help our fellow human beings, by reducing the suffering caused by the scourge of blindness, we need to understand what causes it.
WHAT CAUSES BLINDNESS IN ZAMBIA
In Zambia, the leading cause of blindness is cataracts, which account for 55% of cases. Cataracts are more common in the developing world for a variety of reasons, including poor nutrition and high levels of UV radiation exposure.
Cataracts are very common worldwide. Fortunately, they are curable, using a very safe and effective operation. In the developed world, there are many ophthalmologists, and anyone who needs a cataract surgery can get one. However, there are too few eye surgeons in Zambia (1-2 ophthalmologists per million, compared to about 100 per million people in western countries) so the rate of cataract surgeries performed annually is far fewer than needed, leaving many needlessly blind. Southern Zambia is especially underserved, with very limited access to eye hospitals and ophthalmologists.
Our Solution: The Zimba Ophthalmology Campus
WHY ZIMBA?
Zimba is a medium-sized town in southern Zambia, and is the home to the Zimba Eye Hospital and Clinic (ZEHC), the only charitable eye hospital in Southern Zambia. ZEHC, established in 2001, has an excellent reputation for providing high-quality, low-cost eye surgery and treatment.
The ZEHC serves a very large area of southern Sub-Saharan Africa, not only in Zambia, but also across several other underserved countries, including Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. While ZEHC has done and continues to do excellent work for thousands of people every year, its physical plant can no longer handle the increasing demands for surgery or medical visits, nor are adequate teaching resources available. A larger, modern hospital, clinic, and teaching facility must be built to stem the rising tide of blindness in Southern Africa.
We will partner with the ZEHC, and International Vision Volunteers, the US charitable group that has run it in an efficient, ethical, and fiscally responsible way for 23 years.
This will allow us to use land already owned by and planned for a new hospital, speeding the process immensely. The new center will benefit a population of tens of millions of underserved people, who already know of and trust the ZEHC for sight saving surgery and treatment.
WHAT EXACTLY IS THE PLAN IN ZIMBA?
Our vision is to create a new, modern ophthalmic medical campus in Zimba, which will include:
- A state-of-the-art Eye Hospital and Ophthalmology Clinic
- A Training Center for local eye care professionals
- A guest dormitory for visiting faculty and staff.
This facility will focus on:
- Providing advanced eye surgeries, particularly cataract surgery
- Training ophthalmologists, optometrists, ophthalmic nurses, and technicians
- Expanding patient care to underserved populations in Zambia and neighboring countries
Project Components and Costs
Our goal is to raise $23 million. This will fund a four year, phased construction of three new buildings as well as necessary infrastructure for clean water and a steady electricity supply. Immediate funding of scholarships and staff training will allow the new campus to be fully staffed once it is completed. Modern, reliable diagnostic and therapeutic equipment and medical supplies and medications will account for a significant proportion of the budget. Almost half of the budget will fund an endowment to allow ongoing operations for 10 years at which time the campus is expected to be self-sustaining.
HOW YOU CAN HELP: We Can’t Do it Without YOU!
Donations of any size are welcomed, needed, and will make a significant impact:
- $100 allows us to perform a cataract surgery, restoring sight to a blind person.
- $1000 will buy an advanced microsurgical instrument used to treat glaucoma.
- $10,000 provides a Nursing School scholarship for a young person from the village.
- $100,000 buys and equips a mobile medical/surgical van to provide care in outlying villages.
- $1,000,000 builds an operating room, bringing sight to thousands and training hundreds of doctors in advanced techniques.
- $5,000,000 builds a teaching eye hospital that will have a major impact in reducing blindness across Southern Africa for generations
The Impact of Your Donation
By donating to ESI, you will:
- Reduce blindness by significantly increasing the number of cataract surgeries.
- Train and employ local eye care teams, contributing to the local economy and healthcare sustainability.
- Broaden our reach to underserved populations in Zambia and neighboring countries, ultimately serving tens of thousands of patients every year.
Achieving our $23 million fundraising goal will transform countless lives by eliminating curable and preventable blindness and reducing poverty. Please join us on this life-changing mission.