BOBO-DIOULASSO: Isaka Diallo was playing with friends when a stone struck his left eye. For two weeks, his parents searched hospitals in western Burkina Faso for an eye doctor. The village clinic only prescribed painkillers. Other health workers did not know what to do.
When they eventually found Dr. Claudette Yaméogo, Burkina Faso’s only pediatric ophthalmologist, the injury had become too difficult to treat.
“The trauma has become severe,” Yaméogo said of Diallo’s condition as she attended to him recently at the Sanou Sourou University Hospital in the city of Bobo-Dioulasso. “Cases like (Diallo’s) must be treated within the first six hours, but I’m seeing him two weeks later, and it’s already too late.”
It is a common problem in the country of about 23 million people, which has just 70 ophthalmologists.
Yaméogo , who started her practice late last year, said the work is daunting and often requires her to visit — at no cost — families who cannot afford care or cannot make their way to the hospital where she works.
While there is limited data available on eye defects in children in Burkina Faso or in Africa at large, an estimated 450 million children globally have a sight problem that needs treatment, according to the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness.
Late intervention can significantly alter a child’s future, the organization said, with many such cases in less developed countries.
In Burkina Faso, an estimated 70 percent of the population lives in rural areas. And yet ophthalmologists are concentrated in the capital, Ouagadougou, and other main cities, making them unreachable for many.
While more than 2,000 ophthalmology procedures were performed in Burkina Faso’s western Hauts-Bassins region in 2024, only 52 of those were carried out in its more rural areas, according to the Ministry of Health. Most procedures were done in the area of Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso’s second city.
Not many people are aware of Yaméogo’s work. Even when they are, traveling to reach her often requires days of planning and financial saving.
In a further challenge to accessing care, Diallo’s family is among the 2 million people displaced by violence as extremist groups seize parts of the country.
To visit Yaméogo’s hospital from the village where they are sheltering, they had to travel about 40 kilometers (21 miles) on a motorcycle to Bobo-Dioulasso, spending 7,500 francs ($13) on transport, a high price for a small-scale farming family.
At least 70 percent of the trauma cases in children treated at the hospital come from rural areas where the risk of exposure — from conflict or from play — is higher, Yaméogo said.
Examining and treating a child is a delicate practice that requires a lot of time, something many families can’t afford. Many must return home to earn money for the treatment.
As she treated Diallo, Yaméogo noticed that the boy associated a drawing of an apple with a pepper, making her wonder: Is it that he can’t see it, or that he doesn’t know what an apple is? The fruit doesn’t grow in the region where he lives.
“There’s no fixed time for examining children,” she said. “You need a lot of patience.”
Yameogo’s work has had a “very positive impact on training future pediatricians and on the quality of ophthalmology services,” said Jean Diallo, president of the Burkinabè Society of Ophthalmology.
“A child’s eye is not the same as that of an adult, which is why we need specialists to treat problems early so the child can develop properly,” Diallo said.
He cited retinoblastoma, a retinal cancer mostly affecting young children, and congenital cataracts, eye diseases that can be cured if diagnosed early. Pediatricians won’t necessarily detect them.
During another consultation, Yaméogo told the family of 5-year-old Fatao Traoré that he would need cornea surgery as a result of an injury sustained while playing with a stick.
“Sometimes I feel a pinch in my heart,” Yaméogo said as she examined the boy after they arrived from their farm on the outskirts of Bobo-Dioulasso. “His iris has detached from his cornea, so he needs to be hospitalized.”
The father, looking overwhelmed, sighed, unsure of where the money for the child’s surgery would come. On paper, Burkina Faso’s government covers the cost of medications and care for children under 5, but often no drugs are available in hospitals, meaning families must buy them elsewhere.
A surgery like the one for Traoré can cost 100,000 CFA ($179), several months’ income for the family.
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Burkina Faso’s only eye doctor for children sees the trauma of both play and conflict
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Burkina Faso’s only eye doctor for children sees the trauma of both play and conflict
- Dr. Yaméogo who started her practice late last year said the work is daunting and often requires her to visit at no cost, families who cannot afford care or cannot make their way to the hospital where she works
Austrian parliament approves headscarf ban in schools
- In 2019 the country introduced a ban on headscarves in primary schools, but the constitutional court struck it down
- Rights groups and activists have long argued that banning headscarves still amounts to telling a woman what to wear
VIENNA: Austrian lawmakers on Thursday voted by a large majority in favor of a law banning headscarves in schools for girls under 14, a move rights groups and experts say is discriminatory and could deepen societal division.
Austria’s conservative-led government — under pressure with anti-immigration sentiment is running high — proposed the ban earlier this year, arguing it is aimed at protecting girls “from oppression.”
In 2019 the country introduced a ban on headscarves in primary schools, but the constitutional court struck it down.
This time the government insists that its law is constitutional, though experts have suggested it could be seen as discriminating against one religion — Islam — and putting children in an uncomfortable position.
The law prevents girls younger than 14 from wearing headscarves that “cover the head in accordance with Islamic traditions” in all schools.
After a debate Thursday, only the opposition Green party voted against the ban.
Ahead of the vote, lawmaker Yannick Shetty of the liberal NEOS said the headscarf “is not just an item of clothing” but “sexualizes girls.”
“When a girl... is told that she must hide her body... to protect herself from the gaze of men, it’s not a religious ritual, but oppression,” Integration Minister Claudia Plakolm said when presenting the bill.
The ban, which applies to “all forms” of the Islamic veil including hijabs and burqas, would take full effect with the start of the new school year in September, Plakolm said.
From February, an initial period would be launched during which the new rules would be explained to educators, parents and children with no penalties for breaking them.
But for repeated non-compliance, parents would face fines ranging from €150 to €800 ($175-930).
The government said that about 12,000 girls would be affected by the new law.
‘Stigmatized’
Rights groups and activists have long argued that banning headscarves still amounts to telling a woman what to wear, instead of allowing her the freedom to decide on her own.
Organizations including Amnesty International Austria have criticized the bill.
Amnesty said it “constitutes blatant discrimination against Muslim girls” and described it as an “expression of anti-Muslim racism.”
Such measures risk “fueling existing prejudices and stereotypes against Muslims,” the group warned.
The draft law has also drawn criticism from the IGGOe, the body officially recognized as representing the country’s Muslim communities.
It said the ban “jeopardizes social cohesion,” saying “instead of empowering children, they are stigmatized and marginalized.”
Angelika Atzinger, managing director of the Amazone women’s rights association, said a headscarf ban “sends girls the message that decisions are being made about their bodies and that this is legitimate.”
Her comments appeared in a statement published by the anti-racism group SOS Mitmensch, which also opposes the proposed law.
Austria’s anti-immigration, far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) said the ban did not go far enough, however. They want it extended to all students, teachers and other staff.
In France, authorities banned school children in 2004 from wearing signs of religious affiliation such as headscarves, turbans or Jewish skullcaps, on the basis of the country’s secular laws, which are meant to guarantee neutrality in state institutions.
Austria’s conservative-led government — under pressure with anti-immigration sentiment is running high — proposed the ban earlier this year, arguing it is aimed at protecting girls “from oppression.”
In 2019 the country introduced a ban on headscarves in primary schools, but the constitutional court struck it down.
This time the government insists that its law is constitutional, though experts have suggested it could be seen as discriminating against one religion — Islam — and putting children in an uncomfortable position.
The law prevents girls younger than 14 from wearing headscarves that “cover the head in accordance with Islamic traditions” in all schools.
After a debate Thursday, only the opposition Green party voted against the ban.
Ahead of the vote, lawmaker Yannick Shetty of the liberal NEOS said the headscarf “is not just an item of clothing” but “sexualizes girls.”
“When a girl... is told that she must hide her body... to protect herself from the gaze of men, it’s not a religious ritual, but oppression,” Integration Minister Claudia Plakolm said when presenting the bill.
The ban, which applies to “all forms” of the Islamic veil including hijabs and burqas, would take full effect with the start of the new school year in September, Plakolm said.
From February, an initial period would be launched during which the new rules would be explained to educators, parents and children with no penalties for breaking them.
But for repeated non-compliance, parents would face fines ranging from €150 to €800 ($175-930).
The government said that about 12,000 girls would be affected by the new law.
‘Stigmatized’
Rights groups and activists have long argued that banning headscarves still amounts to telling a woman what to wear, instead of allowing her the freedom to decide on her own.
Organizations including Amnesty International Austria have criticized the bill.
Amnesty said it “constitutes blatant discrimination against Muslim girls” and described it as an “expression of anti-Muslim racism.”
Such measures risk “fueling existing prejudices and stereotypes against Muslims,” the group warned.
The draft law has also drawn criticism from the IGGOe, the body officially recognized as representing the country’s Muslim communities.
It said the ban “jeopardizes social cohesion,” saying “instead of empowering children, they are stigmatized and marginalized.”
Angelika Atzinger, managing director of the Amazone women’s rights association, said a headscarf ban “sends girls the message that decisions are being made about their bodies and that this is legitimate.”
Her comments appeared in a statement published by the anti-racism group SOS Mitmensch, which also opposes the proposed law.
Austria’s anti-immigration, far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) said the ban did not go far enough, however. They want it extended to all students, teachers and other staff.
In France, authorities banned school children in 2004 from wearing signs of religious affiliation such as headscarves, turbans or Jewish skullcaps, on the basis of the country’s secular laws, which are meant to guarantee neutrality in state institutions.
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