SIGHT FOR SOULS

The numbers are overwhelming – 43.3 million people worldwide are blind. An additional 553 million people live with low vision, and another 510 million with inadequate presbyopia. All these numbers are growing over time. Blindness affects not only the individual but also the family unit as young people are forced to forgo schooling or work to care for their blind relatives. The vast majority (about 90%) of people with visual impairment live in the developing world. The growth of large, sustainable eye care centers in places like India and Nepal have given hope for a world without avoidable blindness. At the present time, sub-Saharan Africa has the highest age-specific burden of blindness in the world, with its second-largest country Ethiopia being heavily impacted. Sight for Souls recognizes that building a world where all may see requires that we address unmet needs in the neediest parts of the world, where there is just 1-2 eye doctors for every million people. We do this primarily through development, improving the scale and quality of clinical care permanently.