Himalayan Cataract Project photo.
Vermont Business Magazine The Himalayan Cataract Project, based in Waterbury, is one of eight groups named as semi-finalists in100&Change,a global competition for a single$100 milliongrant from the John Dand Catherine TMacArthur Foundation. InJune 2016, theMacArthur Foundationlaunched thecompetition, offering a$100 milliongrant to fund a single project which makes measurable progress towards solving a significant global problem. The winner will be announced later this year.
Avoidable blindness persists despite known, cost-effective solutions, with 90% of the world's blind living in low income countries. Infact, 18 million people are completely blind due to cataracts - a condition permanently curable with an inexpensive, 10-minutesurgery.
The Himalayan Cataract Project has worked since 1995 to develop sustainable solutions for needless blindness throughoutAsiaandAfrica. The organization first developed its systems inNepalwhere the prevalence of blindness has fallen by two-thirds since theearly 1990s.
HCP's solution scales sustainable delivery systems in three countries where the bulk of its resources are currently focused - Nepal,Ethiopia andGhana. Collaborating with leaders in global eye care and medical technology, HCP focuses on capacity building andlocal empowerment while supporting high quality, high volume service in the poorest parts of a country. HCP will expand the modelsto include innovative, refractive programs that address uncorrected vision while also providing sustainable revenue generation. Mostimportantly, HCP and its partners will unlock the blueprint for sustainable eye care delivery worldwide, in a manner that can beshared, replicated and scaled.
"The100&Changegrant could enable the Himalayan Cataract Project toreach the tipping point to eliminate needless blindness on aglobal scale. A grant of$100 millioncould generate billions in leveraged investment," says Dr.Geoffrey Tabin, the Co-Founder of the Himalayan Cataract Project.
The economic empowerment generated by eye care development has been shown again and again. Arecent PricewaterhouseCoopers-led study demonstrated a 400% return on every dollar invested in eye care programs in the developing world. Other studiesestimate that$47 billionis lost in productivity every year due to blindness - and predominantly by the economies that can afford it the least.
"Selection as a100&Changesemi-finalist is a major endorsement of the eye care model that we have developed and implemented with partners over the last two decades. With an investment of this magnitude, we can scale up faster, expand our training, infrastructure and innovation, and cure over 500,000 blind people," says HCP Chief Executive Officer,Job Heintz.
Source:WATERBURY, Vt.,Feb. 15, 2017/PRNewswire/ -- The Himalayan Cataract Project
Website:http://CureBlindness.org
Facebook:http://facebook.com/cureblindness
Twitter:http://twitter.com/cureblindness