HelpMeSee, Eleta Eye Institute, and Christian Blind Mission Launch Nigeria's First Simulation-based Cataract Surgery Training Center to Combat Public Health Crisis
IBADAN, Nigeria, Feb. 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- In a major milestone for eye health in Africa, HelpMeSee, in collaboration with Eleta Eye Institute (EEI) and Christian Blind Mission (CBM), is launching the HelpMeSee Simulation-based Training Center at EEI in Ibadan, Nigeria — a pioneering initiative designed to address the region's cataract blindness epidemic through the most comprehensive Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgery (MSICS) simulation-based training program in the world.
With over 1.27 million blind individuals, cataracts are responsible for nearly 40% of those cases, Nigeria faces an urgent public health crisis. Despite having over 540 ophthalmologists and 17 training institutions, Nigeria's cataract surgical rate (CSR) remains at only 317 sight restoring surgeries per one million people per year, far below what is needed to eliminate preventable blindness.
"The launch of this training center is a pivotal step," said Dr. Nicoletta Fynn-Thompson, Chief Medical Officer at HelpMeSee. "Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgery (MSICS) is the most effective, scalable, and affordable surgical option for addressing cataract blindness in low-resource settings. Through simulation-based training in MSICS, we can ensure cataract surgeons gain the skill and confidence to deliver high-quality surgical eyecare."
MSICS: The Gold Standard for Vision Restoration in Low-Income Countries
MSICS is a cost-effective, sutureless cataract surgery technique ideally suited for high-volume outreach and situations where cost is a limitation. Unlike phacoemulsification, MSICS does not require expensive machines, electricity, and disposables — making it the most accessible and sustainable technique in many LMICs, including Nigeria.
However, mastering MSICS requires rigorous, hands-on training that is often insufficient when using traditional methods. That's where the HelpMeSee Simulation-based Training Program comes in.
"At Eleta, we are not only treating blindness — we are raising the next generation of eye health leaders who will prevent it," said Dr. BGK Ajayi, CEO of Eleta Eye Institute and Chairman, Eleta Eye Foundation. "This collaboration expands our capacity to train more surgeons in MSICS more efficiently, while maintaining the highest surgical standards for our communities."
Using the HelpMeSee Eye Surgery Simulator, a high-fidelity virtual reality platform with haptic feedback, trainees can perform hundreds of simulated MSICS procedures in a supportive learning environment, enhancing fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and complication management without touching a patient.
"CBM is proud to partner with HelpMeSee and Eleta Eye Institute in this innovative endeavor. For more than 50 years in Nigeria, we've supported local solutions to prevent blindness, and this new training center represents a powerful step forward. To eliminate cataract blindness, we must invest in training that is accessible, standardized, high-quality, and scalable. Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgery offers that opportunity — and the HelpMeSee Simulation-based Training Program ensures that no cataract specialist is left behind," said Omoi Samuel, Country Director for Nigeria at CBM.
This scalable approach enables both residents and practicing ophthalmologists to achieve surgical readiness more rapidly and consistently than traditional methods, which is critical to improving surgical volumes, patient safety, and reducing surgical complications.
Strategic Location, Lasting Impact
Located in Ibadan, just 130 km from Lagos, the EEI Training Center is positioned to serve not only Nigeria but the entire West African region. It aligns with WHO and IAPB global action plans to scale cataract surgery access and workforce development in LMICs.
Simulation-based MSICS training is more than a technological advancement, it is a public health necessity. With the launch of this training center, HelpMeSee, EEI, and CBM are sending a clear message: the tools to end cataract blindness in Africa are here — and the time to act is now.
Media Contact:
Amanda Kronberg
HelpMeSee, Director of Marketing
[email protected]
About HelpMeSee:
In a world where 100 million people are blind or visually impaired due to cataract, HelpMeSee, a not-for-profit under IRS 501(c)(3), has a global mission to eradicate cataract blindness by increasing the training of Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgery (MSICS). This safe and relatively quick procedure delivers successful outcomes at a low cost. The HelpMeSee MSICS training system features high-fidelity, virtual reality simulation with haptic feedback, sophisticated courseware, learning management systems, and electronic learning aids.
HelpMeSee was founded by Al and Jim Ueltschi, who imagined building the MSICS training system by incorporating many of the methods and techniques used successfully in commercial pilot training. As co-founder of Orbis International and founder of FlightSafety International, Al Ueltschi was an icon in the aviation industry and was devoted to treating preventable blindness in the developing world. HelpMeSee trains cataract specialists to ensure that all communities have access to highly trained MSICS specialists. With more than 40 simulators and 15 training centers worldwide, HelpMeSee partners with governments, universities and innovators to fight the global cataract blindness crisis. For more information, visit http://www.helpmesee.org.
About Eleta Eye Institute (EEI):
EEI is a specialist hospital that is accredited to train ophthalmologists by the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria (NPMCN) and the West African College of Surgeons (WACS). It has trained 9 ophthalmologists in the past 5 years and has capacity to admit 9 trainees every year. It accepts residents from other accredited training institutions in Nigeria for clinical rotation, especially for cataract surgery.
It is part of the Eleta Eye Institute Group, which is a network of five institutions in the South West region of Nigeria that provide high-volume cataract surgery. The network performed 16,590 cataract surgeries in the past 5 years.
About Christian Blind Mission (CBM):
CBM is an international development and humanitarian organisation dedicated to improving the quality of life of persons with disabilities in the world's poorest countries.
Our Inclusive Eye Health Work
More than 2.2 billion people worldwide experience vision impairment. One billion of these cases are preventable or treatable. In many low- and middle-income countries, the lack of proper eye care is leading to a crisis of preventable blindness. Millions of people are at risk of losing their sight or remaining visually impaired simply because they can't access the treatment or surgery they need.
At CBM, we know what works: preventing blinding infections, treating eye diseases in time, and surgeries to restore sight. We work through partners to facilitate over 15 million cataract surgeries worldwide. More than 421,000 were performed in the last two years (2023 and 2024) alone. Yet more needs to be done because someone needlessly loses their sight every day.
As part of the CBM strategy to address this gap, CBM invests significantly in building a skilled eye health workforce. CBM has contributed to the development of ophthalmology training programmes in developing countries across the globe. COECSA and West Africa College of Surgeons training programmes are notable in Africa. These initiatives, led by African partners for Africa, have helped create sustainable and globally competitive training programmes to increase the numbers of well-trained ophthalmologists in the region.
CBM invests in the eye health workforce at all levels of the health system. In 2024, we supported the training of over 25,000 eye health and non-eye health personnel, (ophthalmologists, ophthalmic nurses, clinical officers, optometrists, refractionists, teachers, community health workers, and primary healthcare providers) across the world.
SOURCE HelpMeSee
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