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Sightsavers International

Children waiting after having a cataract operation
Children waiting after having a cataract operation © Sightsavers 

Sightsavers vision is of a world where no one is needlessly blind. Up to 80% of blindness in developing countries can be prevented or cured. We collaborate with local organizations and government bodies to develop appropriate services and deliver them directly to people in need.

In the absence of social inclusion, blindness causes great economic as well as personal hardship, yet very few of the world's incurably blind people have access to rehabilitation services. Sightsavers promotes the concept of community-based rehabilitation and training that enables blind people to take full and active part in their societies.

Sightsavers also participates in international and national fora that bring aid agencies together to share ideas. Sightsavers is a founder member of VISION 2020 - The Right to Sight , a global initiative made up of over 20 international eye care agencies, working with the World Health Organization and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB). It aims to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020. Sightsavers already has strong programmes in two of the disease priorities identified within VISION 2020 - cataract and onchocerciasis (river blindness).

In trachoma, Sightsavers is expanding its activities using the S.A.F.E. (Surgery, Antibiotics, Facial cleanliness and Environmental Hygiene) model. The other two disease priorities - childhood blindness and refraction and low vision - have recently attracted much attention and models suitable for developing countries are currently being developed. Sightsavers International is working with its international partners to establish appropriate models and strategies.


 

Statistics

Last year in Pakistan, we helped to support:

  • The treatment of 197, 498 people for sight related problems
  • 21,406 cataract operations
  • The screening of 306,483 people for refractive error

Related Information

  • It costs just £27 for a child cataract operation