Glaucoma in Gambian Communities: What we learned from the latest outreach session

By Alice Pavlou

Overview of event

On Friday 4th July, members of Fearless Youth Association (FYA) and our women’s empowerment branch, Nistawi Women, joined forces with local NHS researchers and members of the Gambian community for a special outreach session about glaucoma: a serious and often misunderstood eye condition.

This event was part of a bigger project looking at how glaucoma affects different communities, and how we can make healthcare more accessible and inclusive, particularly for those at higher risk.

What is Glaucoma?

Glaucoma – described by Dr Anthony King as “the silent thief of sight” – is a common, long-term disease of the optic nerve (that connects the eye with the brain). It affects peripheral vision but often develops without any symptoms early on, making it hard to detect. 

Outlined by Dr King, studies show that African and Caribbean communities are more likely to develop glaucoma, often from a younger age. But many people don’t know how to spot it, or where to go for help.

Understanding the Research Focus: Glaucoma as a Public Health Concern

The aim of the community outreach session was to hear from the Gambian community themselves about their own experiences and thoughts around glaucoma. These insights would help shape a new NHS research project focused on the disproportionate experiences of Glaucoma, with aims to reduce health inequalities in the long-term. 

The session was part of a wider series of talks involving other Black African and Caribbean communities across the area, helping researchers understand what support is needed to tackle glaucoma, and how to deliver it in a way that helps the communities most affected.

Making the Science simple

After a friendly introduction, Dr King, who led the session, began with an informative, visual explanation of what Glaucoma is, what causes it, and how it can be treated. With the help of diagrams and visuals, Dr King broke down a complex explanation of the disease into something accessible and easy to understand for the community. 

Throughout the talk, Dr King and the researchers kept the discussion interactive, asking questions like “Who here has been to the opticians in the past two years?”. This made the session feel like a real conversation, not just a lecture, and helped the audience feel as though their opinions were being listened to and input in the research project – fulfilling the purpose of the project. 

Dr King also shared a powerful memory about his experience treating a 25-year-old African man with glaucoma, detailing how he’d never seen someone so young with such an advanced condition. “It was a shock to me,” he reminisced, and it became clear that experiences like these are what drive his passion to conduct research into health inequalities. 

What the Community had to say

Observing the community members during the session, it was clear that they were engaged and eager to know more about glaucoma. Community members were encouraged to interrupt at any point with questions or to share their thoughts, which led to loads of follow-up questions, ranging from cataracts to the effect of melanin, eye injuries and even how your environment may impact your risk of glaucoma. 

“It’s very informative,” one attendee said, pointing to the on-screen diagrams of the optic nerve. 

But the session also highlighted many important gaps in knowledge. While many individuals of the community had heard of glaucoma – some expressing they had family members who were affected by the condition – there was a lot of uncertainty about what treatment is available for glaucoma, how to get screened, and whether optometrists are free of charge in the UK. It was made clear early on in the session that around half of the community members had been to an optometrist in the past two years, while others hadn’t.

This uncertainty would unfortunately be expected, as existing research shows that glaucoma is disproportionately experienced within Black African and Caribbean communities partly due to unequal access to healthcare. Adults from minority ethnic communities in the UK face multiple barriers across the eyecare pathway, from awareness and understanding to access and follow-up. Systemic issues, including communication gaps, mistrust, and culturally insensitive services, contribute to the underdiagnosis and undertreatment of conditions like glaucoma in Black African and Caribbean communities.

The knowledge gaps we saw during the session are not random: they are a reflection of broader health inequalities within the UK healthcare system. Addressing these issues requires community-informed healthcare research to improve disparities in healthcare access. And the most effective way to do this is through continuous engagement with the most affected communities – exactly like this session aimed to deliver. 

Looking ahead: Countering health inequalities and improving service accessibility

Towards the end of the session, Dr King proposed an exciting idea, aiming to directly improve the accessibility of glaucoma screenings for the community: What if free glaucoma screening sessions were held directly at community centres?

The response to this idea was extremely positive. Community members agreed, with many exclaiming it would be an “excellent idea”. One woman pointed out that this would fit perfectly around her Friday prayer at the mosque, and others agreed it would be a huge help to them – especially if it’s free.

This experience shows how powerful it is to be able to involve communities directly in health research and services: not only for spreading awareness about health conditions, but also for improving healthcare service accessibility. It showed that sometimes the best way to expand the reach of healthcare services and include those who have been left out of healthcare services until this point, is to set up screening services in places they know where to reach, and can easily access.

By bringing healthcare service to communities, we can build a healthcare system that’s not only more inclusive but also more effective, able to reach those who may not otherwise be able to access them. 

#CommunityHealth #GlaucomaAwareness #BlackHealthMatters #FYA #NistawiWomen #HealthEquity #GambianCommunity #NHSResearch