Help! No IOLs for cataract surgery

mologist told me that his eye department, in a rural part of his country, had recently lost its non-governmental organisation (NGO) support. As a result, he had not performed any cataract operations for several weeks, because the hospital had not ordered the necessary intra-ocular lenses (IOLs). This seemed a very unfortunate state of affairs – but also something others could learn from. We have therefore invited ophthalmologists and regular Community Eye Health Journal contributors in Africa to explain how this situation could be better handled – and avoided – in future. What follows is an edited collection of their responses.