World Sight Day with cbm

Getting on with treating and preventing avoidable blindness… one eye at a time.

The Problem:

39,000,000	245,000,000	284,000,000	19,000,000
Number of blind persons in the world	Number of people with visual impairments in the world (moderate to severe)	Number of people in the world who are blind or visually impaired	Number of children in the world who are visually impaired

*Data sourced from the International Association for the Prevention of Blindness and VISION 2020

80 percent of all blindness in the world can be prevented. This means that there are over 31 million people in the world who are blind, who shouldn’t have to be! Unfortunately, most of these 31 million people live in developing countries where there isn’t readily available quality eye care, so blindness that could be avoided, isn’t.

This is why cbm does the work it does, where it does. We bring much needed medical care and life skills for the blind who are living in poverty who otherwise wouldn’t get the eye care they need, or would not be able to afford it.

Effect of Blindness and Low Vision in Communities

Of the 284,000,000 people in the world with visual impairments, 90 percent of them live in developing countries. The need for quality eye care in poorer countries is indeed great. The impact visual impairments have on families and communities is astounding because of the high prevalence and because of the extra care the family then has to provide that person. Blindness has an enormous personal, social and economic cost, limiting the education and life choices of otherwise healthy people, and placing a significant weight on family, community and social health services.

Chart 3

We in New Zealand actually take it for granted that glasses or contacts are considered “accessories” these days. Here’s a simple exercise that may drive this fact home – take off your glasses, look around, and imagine trying to get through your day. If you’re near-sighted, you can’t drive, you may not be able to work at a computer, making breakfast may even be a trick. Now imagine that every day was like that.

A pair of glasses or a cataract surgery can instantly restore sight. Each child that is taught how to wash their face to prevent trachoma, each pill that is dispensed to prevent river blindness, sets someone free because their sight is restored or preserved. This is why restoration of sight and blindness prevention strategies are among the most cost-effective interventions in health care. The impact of inserting that person back into their communities, schools and local economy is exponential.

The Solution: cbm and VISION 2020

644,037	1,430,526	23,747,838	10,000,000
Number of cbm supported cataract surgeries conducted in 2010, worldwide	Number of glasses cbm prescribed in 2010, worldwide	Number of eye patients who received consultation or screening from cbm in 2010, worldwide	Number of cataract surgeries performed worldwide during cbm’s 100 year history

Once every 47 seconds someone in the world receives a cbm-supported cataract surgery, yet this is simply a drop in the bucket compared to the enormous need. Every 5 seconds one person in our world goes blind; and a child goes blind every minute. So we keep going, we keep working.

In recent years, cbm expanded its mandate to address all forms of disability (hence the rebranding from the Christian Blind Mission to cbm), but visual work is still a big part of our work and we are still very much a Christian organisation. For them, World Sight Day is a reminder of why they exist.

Darren Ward, CEO of cbm New Zealand, reflects on the organisation’s work overseas…
“There are two things that always astound me when I meet persons with visual impairments at our projects. The first is that no matter where the person is from, their dreams and aspirations are the same. Basic education, friends, a job, food in their bellies, to be healthy and have a roof over their heads, to be loved. We are truly all God’s children. The other thing that strikes me is how much a little change from New Zealand, can change the lives of those living in poverty. I heard a story just this morning of a mother who couldn’t get much needed medical treatment for her son because she didn’t have the 12 dollars she needed to see the specialist. 12 dollars! I just think, that about three coffees! But to her, it was several months savings, if not a year! So when cbm goes into the field to do free or subsidised cataract surgeries, those people really do view it as a miracle. We say to them, “God’s love knows no boundaries”, and no matter what language they speak, they understand.”

VISION 2020 and cbm

A contributing factor in the decrease of the number of blind is VISION 2020, a global initiative that brings together governments, international agencies, organisations and corporations, to focus resources and efforts on a single cause – to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020. cbm is a founding member of VISION 2020, and to this day we remain a global leader in this effort to eliminate avoidable blindness.

2-year old Ben after his cataract surgery

VISION 2020 has targeted a few key causes of blindness, including tropical diseases, cataracts, trachoma, onchocerciasis (river blindness), childhood blindness, and refractive error, amongst others. These are all causes of blindness that have known and proven methods of treating or preventing.

You may recognise these areas of work if you are familiar with cbm, we regularly fundraise to support our work in these areas (cataracts, river blindness, trachoma, childhood blindness and refractive error); eye care represents the majority of the medical services we support in countries around the world. If you would like to support this work today, you can find details and donate here.

Related articles:

	Click here to read more about how cbm is supporting the elimination of avoidable blindness in New Zealand.
	Blind Dining – This November cbm’s will be holding its Blind Dining event in partnership with Euro Restaurant in Auckland. Participants will be treated to an exquisite multi-course meal… elegantly blindfolded. It promises to be a tasteful experience unlike any you’ve had before. Tell me more... Click here to get your tickets today!