Blindness & Poverty

When Murathi Parsi of the Kapilavastu District of Nepal went blind, surgery was out of reach. Despite living only one hour away from an eye hospital, the family simply did not have NRS 8,000 (approx USD 70) needed for her surgery. Her husband and her son, both daily wage

Throughout the developing world, many suffer at the hands of avoidable or curable blindness. With the lack of resources or access to sufficient healthcare, many fall into a life of inescapable poverty due to their illness. Issues such as cataracts are one of the easiest eye issues to cure – especially

Two years ago Parthasarathi Mocherla read an advertisement in his local newspaper in Hyderabad, India, inviting local people to attend a public meeting. A week later he attended to learn about the urgent need for more people to donate their cornea. “He took a donor card immediately,” says his wife

It is well evidenced that when women are empowered, the better their communities and the planet. There are approximately 25 million women in the world who are blind, and 90 percent of them live in poor and developing countries where barriers to access leave them more exposed. In my recent

It is imperative that prospective social investments — such as those required to build and maintain a sustainable eye health care sector in order to eliminate avoidable blindness and visual impairment — clearly demonstrate that they are effective and represent good value for money. Policymakers are constantly seeking ways to improve the

Artificial intelligence is becoming omnipresent and has the potential to improve every aspect of human life. Whilst rapid technological progression does risk exacerbating inequality, there are also reasons to be optimistic. Technologists are already harnessing AI’s data-mining ability in the fight against what the UN calls today’s greatest