Restoring Vision: Award-Winning HelpMeSee VR Technology Scales Humanitarian Response to Africa's Cataract Emergency

JERSEY CITY, N.J., Feb. 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- As the World Health Organization (WHO) warns that global cataract surgery coverage is unlikely to meet 2030 targets without urgent acceleration, HelpMeSee has been recognized with five Gold awards in the 2025 Brandon Hall Group Excellence in Technology Awards™. The recognition highlights a simulation-based training platform designed to close the global cataract treatment capacity gap and restore sight to underserved regions.

Cataracts remain the leading cause of blindness worldwide. In its February 11, 2026, statement, the WHO highlighted that current surgical rates in Africa are insufficient to meet rising demand, citing critical shortages in trained personnel. HelpMeSee's award-winning system directly addresses this crisis by providing a scalable, "zero-risk" environment for trainees to master high quality, very low-cost Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgery (MSICS).

HelpMeSee is actively expanding surgical capacity across Africa, with established training centers in Tanzania, Madagascar, Ghana, and Nigeria, and additional partnerships developing across the continent. These centers serve as regional hubs for accelerating MSICS training and building sustainable local surgical expertise.

HelpMeSee was honored with five Gold awards and winners are listed at: https://excellenceawards.brandonhall.com/winners/

"Our mission is to eliminate cataract blindness by dramatically increasing the training of high-quality, very low-cost Manual Incision Cataract Surgery (MSICS) worldwide," said Doug May, COO at HelpMeSee. "This recognition affirms that our technology is not just innovative—it is an essential humanitarian tool. By answering the WHO's call for surgical acceleration, we are ensuring that geography no longer determines a person's right to see."

As the WHO highlights, the urgent need for surgical capacity in Africa, HelpMeSee is providing training solutions to develop surgical skills most efficiently in a no-risk, virtual environment. These five Gold awards from Brandon Hall Group affirm that scalable, technology-enabled training is not just innovative—it is essential.

Beyond the technical achievement, the recognition underscores a breakthrough in health equity. Trainees complete a rigorous eLearning curriculum before progressing to intensive, instructor-led simulator training. They perform hundreds of simulations for each step of the MSICS procedure before ever operating on a patient—building precision, confidence, and consistency. This structured approach enables surgical trainees to achieve competency significantly faster than traditional training models.

Media Contact:
Dan Thorpe
HelpMeSee, Chief of Marketing & Development
Pr@helpmesee.org

About HelpMeSee
In a world where 100 million people are blind or visually impaired due to cataract, HelpMeSee, a not-for-profit under IRS 501(c)(3), has a global mission to eradicate cataract blindness by increasing the training of Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgery (MSICS). This safe and relatively quick procedure delivers successful outcomes at a low cost. The HelpMeSee MSICS training system features high-fidelity, virtual reality simulation with haptic feedback, sophisticated courseware, learning management systems, and electronic learning aids. 

HelpMeSee was founded by Al and Jim Ueltschi, who imagined building the MSICS training system by incorporating many of the methods and techniques used successfully in commercial pilot training. As co-founder of Orbis International and founder of FlightSafety International, Al Ueltschi was an icon in the aviation industry and was devoted to ending preventable blindness in the developing world. HelpMeSee trains high quality, very low cost MSICS to ensure that all communities have access to sight restoring affordable treatment. With more than 40 simulators and 15 training centers worldwide, HelpMeSee partners with governments, universities and innovators to fight the global cataract blindness crisis. For more information, visit http://www.helpmesee.org.

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