INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS
Every year, between 7,000 and 8,000 children worldwide are newly diagnosed with retinoblastoma.
Too many of them die because care and early detection are poor.
This is particularly true in developing countries.
While almost all children in industrialized countries survive, there are still countries in the world where the majority of children who develop retinoblastoma die.
Mainly because the diagnosis is made too late and there are no treatment options.
We want to change that.
In cooperation with the International Council of Ophtalmology, we award fellowships to young doctors to specialize in retinoblastoma treatment.
At the same time, we are working on setting up clinics and early detection and treatment programmes in Bangladesh and Nepal so that fewer children die there and children in the world’s poorest countries also have a chance.
Worldwide, around 1:20,000 children fall ill every year, regardless of their origin or gender.
If detected early, 95% of children are cured in medically well-developed countries.
In developing countries, up to 80% of children die because they are diagnosed too late.
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More Information12.05.2022
KAKS Community Children Eye Screening Kick-Off Nepal
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The children of Tilganga - a KAKS project that saves lives
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More Information19.06.2019
KAKS commitment in Bangladesh
Fellowships
In cooperation with the International Council of Ophthalmology, we have been able to award fellowships in the past: Doctors from Bangladesh, Egypt, Madagascar, Azerbaijan, Nigeria and Ethiopia will soon be going to Hyderabad in India for further training, where the treatment of retinoblastoma is carried out at a high level.
They will take their knowledge home with them. We ensure high standards of treatment and education in the third world.
Our previous Fellows
/ Dr. Purnima Rajkarnikar, Nepal
/ Dr. Soma Rani Roy, Bangladesh
/ Dr. Hany Mohamed Eid, Egyt
/ Dr. Charles Umesumbu, Congo
/ Dr. Ikuomensian Segun Joseph, Nigeria
/ Dr. Ameem Kayode, Nigeria
NEPAL
The children of Tilganga – a KAKS project that saves lives
Dr. Rajkamikar from Kathmandu in Nepal was our first Fellow: she took part in our training program in 2017, first at the Wills Eye Institute in Philadelphia, USA, and then in Hyderabad, India, and has been working intensively on improving the situation for RB children in Nepal since her return.
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More InformationThe children of Tilganga – a KAKS project that saves lives
The dedicated team of doctors at the Tilganga Institute of Ophtlamology is already treating numerous retinoblastoma patients and is very interested in improving treatment and early diagnosis in cooperation with KAKS.
This is because the situation for most retinoblastoma children in Nepal is very critical: Late diagnosis, poor treatment options and no accommodation for the parents mean that many parents do not even start treatment for fear of the consequences and flee to their home country.
For the children, this is a death sentence.
Together with the doctors from the Tilganga Institute, we have therefore decided to set up a retinoblastoma clinic that will be the central point of contact for the whole of Nepal: The KAKS Tilganga National Retinoblastoma Center.
Community Children Eye Screening pilot project in Nepal
At Itahari Hospital in Province 1 in eastern Nepal, the first 110 children had their eyes examined by vaccination workers on April 21, 2022.
The children were examined for strabismus, ptosis, leukocoria and nystagmus.
The goal
Visually impaired people in Nepal are largely excluded from society and have little chance of leading a normal life.
Changing this and saving the lives of children was and is our motivation.
Children who develop retinoblastoma in Nepal currently have a survival rate of less than 50%.
The idea
The vaccination rate for children in Nepal is 95%.
By linking eye screening to the existing vaccination programs, it is possible to diagnose and treat the vast majority of children with eye diseases at an early stage.
“We want to educate, inform and support research – so that children remain happy and healthy children.”
Monika König
KAKS team
The Community Children Eye Program
The motivation of the vaccination workers is huge: they are almost exclusively women who have children or grandchildren themselves, who see the training as a great opportunity to save a child’s life and who see the additional task as a chance to gain greater knowledge and prestige in their village with their training as eye experts.
The motivation of the vaccination workers is huge: they are almost exclusively women who have children or grandchildren themselves, who see the training as a great opportunity to save a child’s life and who see the additional task as a chance to gain greater knowledge and prestige in their village with their training as eye experts.
Such a program can only be implemented with strong and absolutely trustworthy cooperation partners: the physician Dr. Ben Limbu from Global Eye Hospital has developed this program in close cooperation with KAKS and will transfer the eye screening to the whole of Nepal into a government program after the successful completion of the pilot project.
Almost 200,000 children are born in Nepal every year.
The screening – linked to the existing vaccination programs – will reach the majority of them.
Even in the remotest corners of this vast and mountainous country.
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More Information12.06.2017
KAKS gives interview on Nepalese television
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KAKS Community Children Eye Screening Kick-Off Nepal
Bangladesh
KAKS commitment in Bangladesh
Why is KAKS involved in Bangladesh?
As in most developing countries, retinoblastoma is diagnosed too late in Bangladesh. In around half of the children who are admitted to hospital in Bangladesh with suspected retinoblastoma, the cancer has already spread to the brain due to the late diagnosis.
Without chemotherapy, this means certain death. But most families cannot afford chemotherapy, so the children have to die.
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More InformationKAKS commitment in Bangladesh
Thanks to our patron Anne Gesthuysen, who made this film possible together with the filmmakers Christian and Markus Dassel.
With Dr. Roy, who participated in our ICO Fellowship Program in Hyderabad, India, we initiated a very moving treatment program. We want to enable the children to receive chemotherapy with sponsorship money in order to save the lives of as many children as possible.
For this program, the Chittagong Eye Infirmary, one of the main reference and training centers for ophthalmology in Bangladesh, has agreed to provide staff and facilities for chemotherapy if KAKS covers the cost of the medication.
The medication for a complete course of chemotherapy costs just EUR 700 (6 cycles).
Every EUR 700 that KAKS collects for this project is a real chance of survival for a child in Bangladesh.
The first two patients are now undergoing treatment. We hope for extensive support to enable all affected children in Bangladesh to receive this treatment.
Chemopartnership direct
Every EUR 700 that KAKS collects for this project is a real chance of survival for a child in Bangladesh.
The medication for a complete course of chemotherapy costs just EUR 700 (6 cycles).
At the same time, we want to improve early detection in Bangladesh so that the number of children in whom the tumor has already migrated to the brain is reduced. This in turn reduces the number of children who have to undergo chemotherapy.
In Bangladesh, there are already many so-called Screening Eye Camps and vision screening programs in schools that we would like to use and address and which we would like to win over for cooperation in early detection.
UKRAINE
When a call for help came from Kiev in March 2022, it was clear to us that we wanted to help quickly and unbureaucratically.
With the generous support of our donors, we did just that: in cooperation with the German Society for Pediatric Oncology and Hematology, we brought 102 children between the ages of 3 and 16 with cancer and 162 relatives to Germany, where they were able to receive further treatment in children’s clinics.
“SUPER” – that’s Sascha’s first German word
KAKS continues to finance bus transportation for children with cancer after evacuation from Ukraine
KAKS brings RB families from Ukraine and helps
