Standard Chartered and Sightsavers International today announced the launch of the Mumbai Eye Care Campaign (MEC), as part of the Bank’s global community eye care initiative ‘Seeing is Believing’, to help tackle avoidable blindness. The Mumbai Eye Care Campaign will use Comprehensive Eye Services (CES) as a core delivery model and will be implemented in eleven marginalised areas within the city. These services will include promotion of eye health, prevention of blindness, provision of clinical services, education and rehabilitation for persons with irreversible visual impairment.
Standard Chartered Bank will be investing USD 20 million over the next five years to fund development of sustainable eye care services in less advantaged areas across 20 cities worldwide. In India, over 1.8 million people have benefited through various initiatives of ‘Seeing is Believing'. The Mumbai Eye Care Campaign is part of this initiative and will be implemented by Sightsavers International, a UK based non-governmental development organisation specialising in provision of technical support for the prevention and cure of blindness.
“This campaign reinforces our commitment to delivering preventive eye care to people in less advantaged areas, said Sreeram Iyer, Regional Chief Operating Officer, India and South Asia, Standard Chartered Bank. “Majority of the blind would not be so at all, if only they had access to appropriate eye care; a need ‘Seeing is Believing’ aims to fill. We look forward to this remarkable partnership with Sight Savers international to take preventive eye care to every doorstep affordably.
Elizabeth Kurien, Regional Director, Sightsavers International also added, “.It is estimated that around 12 million people in India are blind and 80% of this blindness can be treated through locally available, cost-effective interventions. Through the Mumbai Eye Care Campaign and other programmes, Sightsavers is working with its partners to develop the best, affordable and sustainable eye health services and, simultaneously promoting the social inclusion of irreversibly blind persons, in Mumbai and in many of the most vulnerable communities across India.”
Key to the success of this model is the training and support of ophthalmic personnel and community health workers. These services will be provided by various partners who include Lotus College of Optometry, K.B. Bachooali Eye Hospital, Xaviers Resource Centre for Visually Challenged, National Association for the Blind and Blind Person’s Association. The campaign will also include free eye care camps at key railway stations in the city and in Dharavi.
Standard Chartered Bank in India
Standard Chartered Bank is India’s largest international bank with 90 branches in 33 cities, a combined customer base of around 2 million retail customers and more than 2,000 corporate and institutional relationships. Key businesses comprise Consumer Banking, including deposits, loans, wealth management, private banking and SME banking; and Wholesale Banking, which includes cash transaction banking, treasury, corporate finance and custody services. For more information, visit www.standardchartered.co.in.
About Seeing is Believing (SiB)
Seeing is Believing (SiB) is a global initiative to help tackle avoidable blindness, and is a collaboration between Standard Chartered and the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) (registered charity, No. 1100559). IAPB is the leading umbrella organisation for NGOs working in the field of eye care. Together with the World Health Organisation, it launched ‘VISION 2020: The Right to Sight’, a global campaign to eliminate avoidable blindness by 2020.
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To date, Seeing is Believing has raised over US$ 17 million for blindness initiatives and plans to invest a further US$ 20 million by 2014. Seeing is Believing is the single largest contributor to the development of VISION 2020 programmes through IAPB.
Seeing is Believing funds leading eye-care NGOs to provide marginalised populations access to complete services from cataract surgery, to preventative treatment and specialised medical interventions. Projects are selected according to strict criteria to ensure they address need and have a sustainable impact, beyond the life-span of project funding.
Standard Chartered matches all donations to Seeing is Believing until its US$ 20 million fundraising target is met.
Please visit www.seeingisbelieving.org.uk
About VISION 2020: The Right to Sight
“working together to eliminate avoidable blindness”
VISION 2020 is the global initiative for the elimination of avoidable blindness, a joint programme of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), with an international coalition of more than one hundred public, private, charitable, commercial and academic organisations, who seek to do more through collaboration than any one of them could do alone.
- 314million people live with serious visual impairment
- of these, 45million people are blind
- two-thirds of blind people worldwide are women & girls
- 90% of blind people live in developing countries
- YET 80% of blindness is avoidable
For more information visit www.VISION2020.org
About Sightsavers International:
Sightsavers International is a UK based non-political, secular, non-governmental development organisation which specializes in the provision of technical and financial support for the prevention and cure of blindness. Sightsavers also specializes in the provision of services such as education and rehabilitation for the incurably blind persons. It helps the people who need it most – those living in poverty in some of the world’s poorest countries. UK-based Sightsavers International’s work in India, which started in 1966, has supported the treatment of millions of persons with eye disorders and brought eye services to some of the least served areas of the country. In addition, many thousands of irreversibly blind people have received rehabilitation and educational support to enable them to lead lives of independence and dignity. For more information log on to www.sightsavers.org