How we help
Sightsavers believes that no one should be blind from avoidable causes, and that people’s whose sight can’t be saved should live with dignity and independence.
Did you know?
- There are 39 million blind people in the world
- 80% of blindness can be prevented or cured
- Around 90% of visually impaired people live in the world’s poorest countries
So the problems we are trying to tackle are pretty enormous.
All of our work can be divided into the areas of health, social inclusion, education and community development. Click below to find out what we do in each of these areas.
Health
We tackle the main causes of avoidable blindness including cataract, and a group of diseases that have been coined ‘neglected tropical diseases’ such as river blindness and trachoma.
Social inclusion
Social inclusion means making sure everyone in society is included and treated equally. People with disabilities, such as blindness, are often isolated and excluded.
Education
Sightsavers works to make sure children who are blind or have low vision get the chance to go to school
Community development
Communities are not always aware of their own health needs, and visually impaired people are often not included in discussions and decisions that affect the development of their communities.
What do you think?
Mr Lane, United Kingdom (Apr 2012)
I just wanted to say I had not heard of SightSavers before as a charity until I received a phonecall from a young man named Paul Campbell who worked for a fundraising centre called Listen. I am now a regualr supporter as he informed me of your work and I am glad to now know a bit more about you as a charity and to help you on your way to curing peoples sight.
alexa wightman, UK (Apr 2012)
My father spent many months of each year in West Africa researching waterborne diseases in the 1950/60s. Riverblindness was something he was particularly concerned about, and he was awarded a CMG for research work on Trypanosomiasis. When I went to Mali with Explore I was delighted to see so much of your work being done in the villages and the schools and also in conjunction with Water Aid. The work of both of your charities seem to go hand in hand with education in these areas.