Welcome to Sightsavers

Welcome to
Sightsavers
Our vision is of a world where no one is blind
from avoidable causes and people who are
visually impaired participate equally in society.
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About Sightsavers
What we do
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Where we work
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Over sixty years of experience
Contact Us
US Office:
Sightsavers, Inc.
One Boston Place, Suite 2600
Boston, MA 02108
Tel: 800 707 9746
Email:info@sightsaversusa.org
Global Headquarters:
Sightsavers,
35 Perrymount Road,
Haywards Heath,
West Sussex, RH16 3BW
United Kingdom
Tel:
+44 (0) 1444 446600
Front cover image:
Six year old Criscent, from Bundibugyo
in western Uganda, had a double cataract
operation to restore his sight.
© Sightsavers 2016/Tommy Trenchard
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There are 285 million blind or visually
impaired people worldwide, yet eighty
percent of this is avoidable.
More than 90 percent of people with visual
impairment live in developing countries.
Poverty and blindness are inextricably linked,
depriving many people in developing countries
of basic human rights.
Sightsavers is one of the world’s leading non-profit
organizations dedicated to eliminating avoidable
blindness and promoting equal opportunities for
people with disabilities in developing countries.
We work with local partners in over 30 countries
in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.
Sightsavers has over 65 years of experience
in changing lives in developing countries.
We have supported:
The training of over 500,000 primary eye
care workers
Over 718 million treatments distributed
to protect people from neglected tropical
diseases
Over 9 million operations to restore sight
Rehabilitation and training to over 197,000
people who are blind or have low vision
Distributing nearly 3 million pairs of
glasses to people with refractive error
We work in a sustainable way to promote
lasting change. We strengthen existing health
systems and local organizations wherever
possible, fostering independence and building
local capacity to deliver services in the long
term. We seek to influence governments
through advocacy and by demonstrating
scalable and adaptable models of best practice.
Sightsavers, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization;
donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.
We pride ourselves on the cost effectiveness of
our work. Our rigorous monitoring and evaluation
systems ensure that funding is used efficiently and
effectively to maintain our high quality standards.
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www.sightsaversusa.org
Welcome to Sightsavers
©Sightsavers/Peter Nicholls
About Sightsavers
Contents
6-year-old Opuno from Uganda after successful surgery
to repair damage to his eye caused by an accident.
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What we do
Blindness is a significant global health problem.
Sightsavers takes a comprehensive approach to
building strong, sustainable eye health services,
particularly focusing on primary health care and
developing the health workforce. Working with
partners, we tackle the main causes of avoidable
blindness, including childhood blindness, cataract
and neglected tropical diseases. In fact, cataract
surgery is recognized by the World Health
Organization as one of the most cost-effective
health interventions available. Sightsavers plays
a leading role in international coalitions and
initiatives that seek to improve eye health.
Young mother, Laurinda Diago, of Mozambique enjoying
her new vision after her successful cataract operation.
This is Fred, who visits communities in Uganda
to provide exams and treatment for trachoma.
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Welcome to Sightsavers
© Sightsavers/Graeme Robertson
Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a group
of 17 communicable diseases that affect one
billion of the world’s poorest people. Among
those, trachoma and onchocerciasis (river
blindness) are the leading infectious causes of
preventable blindness, with over 232 million
people worldwide at risk of trachoma alone.
Sightsavers has long been a leader in efforts to
eliminate both diseases. Working with a network
of thousands of community volunteers across
Africa, we distribute over one hundred million
donated treatments to prevent infection in
endemic areas each year.
Yogesh of India is studying in an inclusive
classroom with his sighted peers.
In some countries, being disabled more than
doubles the chance of never enrolling in school.
Children with disabilities, including visual
impairment, constitute more than one third of
the 72 million children in the world not enrolled
in primary school, and those in school have very
low completion rates. Sightsavers supports
the principle of inclusive education, whereby
children with visual impairment study alongside
their sighted peers. Our education programs
show what can be achieved through inclusion in
the classroom and encourage governments to
ensure access to quality education for all children
with disabilities.
Social inclusion
© Sightsavers/Zul Mukhida
Neglected tropical diseases
© Sightsavers/Andy Weekes
© Sightsavers/Mike Goldwater
Eye health
Education
Eight hundred million people in the developing
world live with some form of disability and they
count among the poorest and most marginalized
in society. They are often excluded and
experience social stigma. Sightsavers’ programs
ensure that people with disabilities have equal
opportunities and are included in society.
Many governments have inadequate policies to
address disability issues, so we build the capacity
of organizations run by and for people with
disabilities to advocate for their rights. We also
support community-based rehabilitation, such as
providing daily living and income generation skills
that enable people who are irreversibly blind to
lead independent lives.
Blind since childhood, Sankarlai Sansi
of India now runs his own shop. 5
© Sightsavers/Tim McDonnell
Where
work
Where
wewe
work
Belize
Antigua
Benin
Senegal
The Gambia
St Lucia
Chad
Guinea Bissau
Guyana
Guinea
Sierra Leone
Liberia
India
Nigeria
Pakistan
Sudan
Ethiopia
Togo
Cameroon
Cote d’Ivoire
Ghana
Kenya
Tanzania
Democratic
Republic of
Congo
Where we have
programmes
South Sudan
Uganda
Malawi
Zambia
Zimbabwe
© Sightsavers/Laure Crowe
Jamaica
Burkina Faso
Blind since birth, when
Sightsavers first met
Devilal of Rajasthan
India, he was sitting idle
at home. He was referred
to an inclusive education
program. Since then,
he has thrived, winning
prizes for sports, singing
and academics.
© Sightsavers/Tom Saater
Haiti
Little Ismail was born with cataract in both eyes.
He smiles as he sees light for the very first time
and recognizes his mother’s voice after the
bandages were removed from his successful
surgery in southwestern Bangladesh.
Bangladesh
Mali
Bako Abdullahi is
examining villagers in
Nigeria for trachoma, the
world’s leading cause of
preventable blindness, as
part of the largest disease
mapping project in history.
Led by Sightsavers, 2.6
million people were
screened in 29 countries
in over 3 years.
Mozambique
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Welcome to Sightsavers
Regional and support
offices
Pediatric
Ophthalmologist
Dr. Proscovia Arach
examines a young boy
as part of a Sightsavers
supported program
to reduce the prevalence
of blindness in children
in Uganda, particularly
in underserved,
remote areas.
© Sightsavers/Helen Hamilton
© Sightsavers/Peter Nicholls
WhereThis
we have
programmes
is social
inclusion
coordinator Oumou
from Senegal. Each
day, she visits the
homes of blind and
visually impaired
children and teaches
them Braille and life
skills. “I’m realizing my
dream now”, she says.
© Sightsavers/Ella Pierce
Regional and
support offices
60-year-old farmer and
fisherman Emmanuel
Kwame of Ghana
was blinded by river
blindness in his 20s
when 80% of his village
was infected. Now he
says, “Since they started
distributing the drugs,
I have not seen anyone
becoming blind.”
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1990s
Sightsavers began distributing
the treatment Mectizan® to
prevent river blindness.
Sightsavers was a founding
member of Vision 2020, the
global initiative to eliminate
avoidable blindness.
1950s
Sir John Wilson, himself blind,
established what would later
become Sightsavers.
Ground-breaking research
into blindness was carried out
in West Africa, leading to a
pioneering disease control
program for river blindness.
1960s
The first mobile eye units
were launched in Kenya
and Uganda. Staff travelled
thousands of miles to treat
people in remote communities.
Education programs
for blind children were
piloted throughout
developing countries.
1970s
We collaborated with the
World Health Organization
(WHO) and UNICEF to
distribute vitamin A to
prevent childhood blindness.
The first in-country surgical
training program began
in Bangladesh.
1980s
Training programs were
introduced for all levels of
eye care, education and
rehabilitation personnel.
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Welcome to Sightsavers
2000s
Sightsavers launched the
Bangladesh Childhood
Cataract Campaign,
restoring sight to
thousands of children.
Sightsavers successfully
advocated for the first
UN Convention on the
Rights of Persons with
Disabilities in 2006.
Recently
2012: Sightsavers distributed
its 250 millionth Mectizan®
treatment and enters the
final stretch to eliminate
river blindness.
2014: Sightsavers launched
its Million Miracles campaign
to provide one million sightrestoring operations. 2015: Sightsavers and
its partners successfully
championed the inclusion
of the world’s one billion
people with disabilities
in the UN Sustainable
Development Goals.
2016: The Sightsavers-led
Global Trachoma Mapping
Project is the largest
infectious disease survey in
history, providing invaluable
data to plot the end of
trachoma at last.
www.sightsaversusa.org
Images: © Sightsavers; © Sightsavers/Jenny Matthews; © Sightsavers/Tom Saater
Over sixty years
of experience