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Expeditions
"Last year you performed cataract surgery on my mother...The surgery your group performed enabled her to enjoy her sight again and do what she loved best…she told me to tell you how much that surgery changed her life."
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  Expedition Map
Where we workClick on a blue dot on the map above to learn more about the where we work. United States of America
Mexico
Central America
Caribbean
South America
Pacific Islands
Africa
Middle East
Asia
Europe
Russia & Newly Independent States
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    Copyright © 2010 Surgical Eye Expeditions (SEE) International, Inc. All rights reserved.
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SEE International’s Santa Barbara Vision Care Program serves the poorest residents of Santa Barbara County who have no access to comprehensive eye care, including surgery.
SEE International’s first expeditions were to Mexico, and we remain committed to helping those without access to medical care in our neighboring country. In 2009, we performed 39% of the total number of surgeries in the Americas (except the US) in Mexico.
Central America is a region rich in traditions and wonderful people, however there are thousands of impoverished people who are blind only because they have no access to surgical eye care. Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala are among the poorest in the Americas. Guatemala has one of the lowest cataract surgical rates in the Americas. 
Though most Americans know about the lush forests and white beaches of the Caribbean, few realize there are thousands of people who have curable blindness but have no access to health care. Haiti, for example, is the poorest nation in the world and has a lower GDP than many African countries. 
SEE International has collaborated for decades with ophthalmologists and NGOs in South America to serve indigenous and impoverished people who need the help of eye surgeons but cannot afford to pay. 
The remote and beautiful collection of countries found in the Pacific Islands do not have enough ophthalmologists to serve the growing need for cataract and other eye surgeries. For instance, the Fed States of Micronesia has 3 ophthalmologists per 200,000 people living on ~ 120 islets. 
One of the poorest regions in the world, Africa also has a very high rate of cataract blindness. Of the estimated 7 million blind people in Africa, 3.5 million suffer needlessly from operable cataracts, often at a much younger age than other areas. 
Though many countries in the Middle East are rich in oil, the non-oil producing countries struggle to provide health care for their poorest citizens. Approximately 1 out of every 125 people in the Middle East is blind.
One-third of the world’s blind live in southeastern Asia. Currently, only 35 percent of the curably blind have their sight restored.
Though many countries in Europe enjoy free comprehensive health care, there are still countries struggling to deal with a growing population of older people who need cataract surgery.
Russia and the newly independent states in this region are struggling to develop a health care network for their poorest and most needy citizens.