The issue

Imagine going blind. Think about how it would affect not only you but also those around you. Think about what it would mean for your day-to-day activities, your quality of life and your longer term future. Now imagine what it would feel like if you knew that your blindness could be cured but you couldn’t afford it.

The impacts of avoidable blindness

Avoidable blindness is not just a health issue; but an economic issue.

For many, going blind can mean the end of their education, job, livelihood and independence. They have less opportunities to provide for their families and the communities that support them.

Women are at a higher risk of becoming visually impaired. But men are twice as likely to access eye-care services.

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Children’s eye-health

Every minute, a child goes blind. Less than 10% of blind children attend school.

There are 1.4 million blind children in the world, 1 million of whom live in Asia and 300,000 in Africa. About 40% of the causes of childhood blindness are preventable or treatable. 

Poor eye sight, let alone blindness, will impact a child’s ability to read a chalkboard or book and, therefore, has a huge impact on their education. 

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With your help, we can tackle avoidable blindness

Every five seconds someone in the world goes blind. About 90% of blind people live in a developing countries, where access to affordable eye-care is limited.

Without immediate, effective action the number of blind people worldwide is expected to increase from 39 million to 76 million people by 2020.

But, 80% of blindness can be treated or prevented, and the interventions are some of the most cost-effective in health-care; a cataract operation costs on average US$30, Vitamin A treatment around US$1.

 It is in our power to eliminate avoidable blindness. But we need your help to do it.

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