In the late 1980’s, at the time of the El Salvador Civil War, a small group of Massachusetts-based volunteers first began to visit El Salvador in an effort to aid the humanitarian crisis engulfing the country.

The group quickly determined that access to eye-care was a desperate unmet need for most El Salvadorans, especially those living in rural areas.   

A simple pair of eye-glasses was well beyond the reach of most, even if they were able to secure an eye exam. The proportion of people who were blind with opaque cataracts was incredibly high. Glaucoma was going untreated resulting in permanent and devastating blindness. Children born with or who developed strabismus (lazy eye) were left untreated and often stigmatized, first in school and then later in life. The strong sun and dust during the dry season had created a large population whose vision was impaired by pterygium.   Almost all of these conditions can be easily corrected through simple medical interventions available in the U.S., but not in El Salvador where poor people have virtually no access to eye-care services. 

Despite the risks of the war, this dedicated early group decided it could make a difference to the people of El Salvador by organizing an annual campaign to provide eye care.

Beating long odds, the group quickly recruited two optometrists, one ophthalmologist, and four other volunteers to conduct the first eye campaign to El Salvador in 1989. Prior to leaving, thousands of used eye-glasses were collected, cleaned, sorted and organized into a dispensary that was then shipped to El Salvador. During that first campaign over 800 patients were helped. And despite operating in an active war zone, Partners for Visual Health (PVH) ensured its own safety by adhering strictly to its humanitarian mission, free of any political agenda.    

Just 5 years after this initial mission, PVH began offering sight restorative surgeries in 1994 by utilizing the surgical suites at a local public hospital.  Beginning in 2000, surgical suites were established at the ASAPROSAR campus in Santa Ana and since that time all surgeries have been performed at that location. Through the financial support of PVH, ASAPROSAR has been able to expand its campus which now includes 3 operating rooms—greatly enhancing our ability to service even more surgical patients and to provide even more sophisticated interventions such as corneal transplants.  

In 2006, we expanded our work to include diagnosis and treatment of hypertension, diabetes and general cardiac conditions with major financial investment in stocking the pharmacy at ASAPROSAR. 

This pharmacy provides hope to the very large number of poor people who would not, otherwise, be able to afford the necessary medicines to treat these debilitating diseases.