And the inequalities are huge: the number of people affected in low and middle income countries is four times higher than in high income countries.
Our Seeing is Believing project, active in Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, has worked to address those inequalities, treat avoidable blindness and improve local healthcare to ensure the impact is lasting.
To celebrate the 17-year-long project, we challenged Sightsavers CEO Caroline Harper to memorise and recite 17 of those achievements within 90 seconds.
Watch Caroline’s challenge below.
Hear from our chief global technical lead to get a behind-the-scenes look at how we reached so many people.
Learn how we've contributed to halving blindness in the remote Sundarbans region of eastern India.
Meet Arif, whose operation enabled him to learn at school, migrate from his childhood village and earn a living.
Meet the miking team we trained to spread the word about free eye healthcare among remote communities.
Through our learning, we continue to reach those most marginalised via inclusive eye health projects.
Learn how members of Arif's family became confident to seek treatment after his successful operation.
Women are more likely to develop cataracts, so we make sure people like Azimunnisa can get the treatment they need.
People living in informal, urban settlements often experience discrimination, so we ensured they aren’t left behind.
In Pakistan, we trained Lady Health Workers to make sure families are informed about eye health.
Meet the health workers who were trained more than 10 years ago and see what impact it has had on their careers.
Training education staff to carry out eye screenings helps to make sure that in the future, no child will be left behind.
Without eye health screenings, hundreds of children around the world who were born with cataracts wouldn’t have been diagnosed and treated to stop them going irreversibly blind.
To reduce deficiency-associated blindness among children, we provided vitamin A supplements.
We’ve helped to ensure all children, including those with visual impairments, can learn at school alongside their peers.
We’ve integrated eye health into countries’ primary health care, meaning our impact will continue long into the future.
We conduct independent research to shape our work and make sure it’s as effective as possible.
These estimates are crucial to help meet global goals to eliminate avoidable blindness. Read about the impact that good sight has on the global economy.
The Seeing is Believing project, funded by Standard Chartered, worked in 22 countries with the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness and a global community of leading eye care non-governmental organisations.
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