Home » Vision India » Our solution

We work in partnership with local organisations that are carefully selected based on their track record of delivering high quality services and their credibility within local communities.

Vision India will support a number of eye care projects across India, all of which will be based on our tried and tested, and highly effective, model of intervention that has been developed and perfected over 40 years. This is based on the following:

• Screening of patients within their own communities
• Eye treatments, including cataract surgeries
• Education and awareness raising at community level
• Training local ophthalmic personnel and developing infrastructure
• Influencing the Indian government to increase spending on eye health care

During 2010-12 we aim to achieve the following:

Screening

We will screen 8.6 million people for potentially blinding conditions at hospitals and during outreach screening camps in communities and schools.

Eye treatments

We will treat 5.4 million people. Those with simple eye complaints such as infections will be treated during screening camps. People needing spectacles will receive a prescription and in some cases free spectacles and those needing surgery will be referred to specialist hospitals. We will aim to perform 320,000 cataract operations.

Raising awareness

We will use community-based volunteers to help us spread the word about eye health issues and prevention and treatment of potentially blinding conditions, to reach millions of people cost-effectively. Because of the stigma attached to blindness and the fear about surgical procedures, these volunteers also play a crucial role in supporting and encouraging patients to go through with the treatment and the essential follow-up that is necessary after surgery.

Training

We will support the training of 850 ophthalmic staff, such as eye surgeons, optometrists and low vision specialists, and 39,000 primary eye care workers, such as community health workers and teachers. We will also contribute funds towards the development and strengthening of infrastructure and technology for 50 eye care facilities.

Please click here for a full table of targets for our eye care work in India for 2010-12.