Retina South Africa is the only patient group in South Africa dedicated to bringing promising clinical trials and treatments to South Africa. We offer free counselling, education, information and referrals to patients with retinal genetic vision loss and facilitate genetic testing.
Retina South Africa was established in 1980 as the South African Retinitis Pigmentosa Society.
Retina South Africa is a patient-driven action group that has offices or groups in all the major centres in South Africa. Our major focus is:
- Support of the Retinal Degeneration Research project at the University of Cape Town to find the genetic mutations in South African families
- Facilitation of genetic testing to identify those patients who will benefit from clinical trials and imminent therapy
- Public Awareness of retinal degeneration
- Patient support including education, referral and intervention
- Collaboration with local and international agencies and researchers
- Fundraising to support this work
We are founding members of Retina International with headquarters in Ireland.
Membership is open to all patients, family members and persons who wish to support our quest to find treatments for retinal blinding conditions.