Uganda is a signatory to the World Health Organization strategy for elimination of avoidable blindness by the year 2020. Figures from the Health Management Information System indicate that eye diseases are among the top ten causes of morbidity in Uganda. It is estimated that between 300,000 and 350,000 people in Uganda are blind and more than 1.2 million have visual impairment. However, Uganda is faced with an acute shortage of ophthalmologists. About 170,000 Ugandans are blind due to cataracts and that number increases annually by 20 per cent, representing 34,000 new cases every year, according to The Observer http://observer.ug/lifestyle/54205-all-40-million-ugandans-share-41-eye-specialists.html