LIGHT FOR THE WORLD at the ASCRS Annual Meeting Last weekend we took a trip to Chicago for the ASCRS Annual Meeting. It was great to walk the showroom floor and see so many companies, new and old, presenting their latest technology and ideas in interactive ways. Gabriel Müller, Head of Communications at LIGHT FOR [...]
SOLO Eyewear – A Mission to Prevent Blindness 80 percent of the world’s blindness is preventable. If you’re involved in the eye care field, this is a stat you have probably heard before. Approximately 39 million people around the globe are blind due to preventable diseases or conditions like cataract, trachoma, glaucoma, onchocerciasis (river [...]
Visions of Mustang – Bringing Sight to the Forbidden Kingdom As we have written about in the past regarding the Himalayan Cataract Project, the Himalayan region accounts for the highest prevalence of cataract blindness on earth. It is not fully understood why this is, but studies suggest that it is a combination of high [...]
A Tour of ORBIS International’s Flying Eye Hospital In the 1970s, Dr. David Paton, head of the ophthalmology department at Baylor College of Medicine, wanted to do something about the poor state of vision care and ophthalmic education in the developing world. He came up with the idea of the Flying Eye Hospital—an airplane fully [...]
Adlens’ Revolutionary Adjustable Glasses Approximately 1.3 billion people on the planet could benefit from eyeglasses, but many lack the access and capital required to own a pair. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 95% of those who need glasses do not own them, and there is only one optometrist for every one million people. Vision correction can [...]
Philanthropy Spotlight: Social Giving Part 2 In our last Philanthropy Spotlight, we told you about Causes’ efforts to utilize the power of social media to make giving to charity easier and more personal. While Causes delivers an effective way to get people involved in charity, the site OpenIDEO offers a collaborative platform for people [...]
Philanthropy Spotlight: Social Giving Part 1 As we’ve highlighted in previous posts, there are many charitable organizations within the eye care industry doing their part to better the lives of those suffering from visual impairment and ocular disease all around the globe. While the organizations we’ve covered have been doing most of their work [...]
World Sight Day 2011 This Thursday marks the 14th annual World Sight Day, a global event focusing attention on blindness and vision impairment, observed on the second Thursday of October each year. The World Health Organization (WHO), the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), and dozens of other community organizations, NGOs, and [...]
Philanthropy Spotlight: INSIGHT In our last Philanthropy Spotlight, we discussed the Himalayan Cataract Project (HCP), a charitable organization fighting to prevent blindness in the developing world through free procedures, exams, education, and outreach. Today we’re focusing on INSIGHT, an organization that works a little closer to home. This Rhode Island-based non-profit’s mission is “to inspire confidence, build [...]
