3-Rivers Cataract Project: A Quiet Mission to Cure Blindness in the Niger Delta

Some stories don’t make headlines, yet they carry the weight of humanity. This one features the deep creeks of Nigeria’s Niger Delta where water is both a lifeline and a barrier. For many in the Ijaw, Itsekiri and Ilaje communities of the Forcados-Escravos-Benin river systems, blindness is not just a medical condition, it is a sentence. It is what happens when you’re born far from asphalt roads, in houses built on stilts above oil-polluted water, where the nearest hospital is hours away by boat, if you’re lucky to find one at all. But something is changing.

In a powerful new partnership, the Africa Cataract and Eye Foundation, led by Nigerian ophthalmologist and visionary Dr. Gabriel Mejuya Okorodudu, has joined forces with the Himalayan Cataract Project (Cure Blindness Project) to bring life-changing eye care directly to riverine communities right in the heart of the delta. The initiative, called the 3-Rivers Project, targets over 1 million people in some of the most difficult-to-reach parts of Nigeria. Its goal: to eradicate avoidable cataract-induced blindness in communities long forgotten by mainstream health infrastructure. “You have to go to appreciate the suffering,” Dr. Okorodudu says. Not by choice, but by inheritance. And yet they smile. They welcome you. They give you what they have.”
“Life here is raw,” reflects Dr. Okorodudu. “When we listen to them say they’ve been blind for years. That breaks you. Cataracts are a leading cause of blindness worldwide, a treatable condition often flipped into permanent disability by poverty and poor access to care. According to the World Health Organization, nearly 48% of global blindness is due to cataracts. In places like the Niger Delta, where nearly 60% of cataracts are bilateral, one surgery can make the difference between complete darkness and a return to independence.”

But with the help of the Cure Blindness Project, based in the U.S., that is beginning to change. The organization, founded by Dr. Geoff Tabin and Dr. Sanduk Ruit, is known globally for its work in providing access to cataract surgeries and eye care. They’ve brought that same model to the swamps and mangroves of Nigeria. “This partnership is a dream come true,” says Dr. Okorodudu. “We’ve always had the commitment, but now we can scale. We can train more local providers. We can equip more community surgical suites. We can reach more people.”

Already, two fit-for-purpose surgical centers, one at Tsekelewu (Poluopubo) on the Olero Creek and another at Ogheye on the Benin River, will be changing lives. Instead of transporting patients for hours through dangerous waters, surgeries will now happen within their communities, safely and effectively. The foundation is also starting community outreach programs, engaging traditional leaders, local councils, and youth groups to spread awareness about blindness prevention. Some outreach boats are outfitted with mini clinics. Others carry educational posters and eye drops. It’s not flashy, but it works.
In the coming months, the foundation plans to expand its reach across additional tributaries, setting up temporary eye camps and mobile surgical boats. By 2026, they aim to conduct over three thousand surgeries and establish a permanent eye care training hub for local practitioners.

As the first phase of the 3-Rivers Project begins, the team will focus on community sensitization, surgical screenings, and capacity building. Hundreds of surgeries are already scheduled. Thousands more await. But Dr. Okorodudu is not deterred.

“Someone must go,” he said, his voice calm but firm. “And we will keep going, until there is no one left in darkness.”