Erika Sutter

Erika Sutter (1917–2015) was a Swiss ophthalmologist and a medical missionary in South Africa. She became a lecturer at the International Centre for Eye Health (ICEH) and at the Swiss Tropical Institute. Motivated by her faith, she joined the Swiss Mission in South Africa and worked at the Elim Hospital. She made significant advances against malnutrition and trachoma. She practiced community mobilization and preventive healthcare through establishing a Care Group system. She wrote academic papers and books about her work. She was awarded an honorary doctorate degree by the University of Basel, and the 1984 Woman of the Year.

Early life

Erika Sutter was born in Basel, Switzerland on June 14, 1917 to Ernst Theodor Sutter and Meta (née Ris). She had a sister Trudi. Her family had a second home in Troistorrents. She was homeschooled until third grade. From fourth grade, she enrolled in Basel girls' high school Gymnasium am Kohlenberg. In 1937, Sutter enrolled in University of Basel and majored in botany and zoology along with minors in geography and physics. To train to be an ophthalmologist, she returned to Switzerland to study ophthalmology and practice surgical procedures in the Basel Eye Hospital. She returned to the Elim Hospital in 1965 as a certified ophthalmologist. Care Groups aimed to mobilize local people, mostly women, to spread awareness to local communities about trachoma and how to prevent it.

Her work The Community is my University is a compilation of interviews with her and Selina Maphorogo. This book mainly focused on Care Groups and development aid.

Recognition

Woman of the Year in 1984. Honorary doctorate degree from the University of Basel for her work and accomplishments in South Africa in 1995. Trachoma Gold Medal awarded by the French Ligue Internationale Contre le Trachome (1996). Ophthalmological Society of South Africa (2005). Mamphela Ramphele, a South African politician and an activist against apartheid, praised Erika as a “fellow global citizen, [who] not only opened the physical eyes of those she encountered but also their spiritual eyes, to appreciate the power they had within them.”

Retirement Sutter retired in 1984 at 67 and returned to Basel, Switzerland. In her retirement, she spent most of her time traveling and giving presentations and teaching at the Swiss Tropical Institute in Basel and at the International Centre for Eye Health in England. Dr. Erika Sutter died in 2015 at age 98.