WHO ARE WE?
OCULARIS was founded in 2010 as a non-profit organisation by Dr. Joan Prat and his team at the ophthalmology department of the Pediatric Hospital of San Juan de Dios in Barcelona (HSJD).
Currently, more than a score of different people work on it daily OPHTHALMOLOGISTS, OPTOMETRISTS, OCULARISTS, as well as PROFESSIONALS and international aid VOLUNTEERS, management, finance, communication… and of course, with the invaluable economic support of PARTNERS, public and private entities.
“Education is the key for the development of a country, while current measures limit a country’s self-sufficiency without leaving a legacy”
Dr. Joan Prat, founder of OCULARIS
MISSION
To eradicate avoidable blindness, which can be cured or prevented, and to fight for the universal and equal right of visual health, to contribute towards the elimination of poverty and to improve the quality of life of the population, especially of children.
VISION
- To be a pillar in ophthalmological and optometric education in developing countries with the objective that they get to educate themselves autonomously, with the involvement of their governments, universities and visual health professionals.
- To contribute and enhance their understanding and techniques so they can correctly assist a greater number of people, training them in their own environment by adapting to their necessities and using their own resources, despite them being more archaic than those we use in Western countries.
- To transform health and social care in the most disadvantaged and least developed region of the planet, Sub-Saharan Africa, where visual deficiencies determine the future of millions of people without resources.
VALORS
- IMPLICATION: With effort and empathy, we transmit professionalism to the present and future visual health professionals.
- PERSEVERANCE: With compromise and determination, we continually strive to improve and achieve our objectives.
- EQUALITY: Standardising the optometric and ophthalmological knowledge between North and South, bearing in mind gender equality.
- HONESTY: We work in a transversal way, we communicate clearly, and we act decently.
- EDUCATION: We share European medical knowledge in a practical way, considering the reality and the means available of each country. We guide and teach African doctors with the objective of educating educators, improving at once the quality of visual health assistance of their population, especially of children.
