Two losses for eye care
We are sad to report the deaths of Drs Moses Chirambo and Tom Little in recent months.
Moses Chirambo was Malawi’s first ophthalmologist and was later appointed minister of health for his country. He passed away on August 14 during medical treatment in South Africa. Dr Chirambo worked for Sightsavers as Eye Care Programme Consultant for the East, Central, and Southern African Region; he also established and ran the Southern African Development Community (SADC) ophthalmologist course at the Malawi College of Health Sciences. He pioneered Malawi’s first eye training schoolin the capital Lilongwe and helped establish similar programmes in Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Zambia.
Tom Little, an optometrist from New York, was killed during outreach work in Nuristan province, Afghanistan, on 6 August. Dr Little had worked in eye care in Afghanistan for thirty years and supervised a network of eye hospitals around the country. At the time of his death, he was leading a team of nurses, doctors, and logistics personnel providing specialist eye treatment and health care to people in remote communities.