Photo courtesy FUDEM/CooperVision
2014 Project Highlights – Your donations at work
With your help, Optometry Giving Sight allocated $1.5 million to 35 projects in 27 countries in
2014 - transforming the lives of tens of thousands of individuals. We also provided vital support to
community education and advocacy activities to raise awareness of the importance of eye health
and the role of the Optometrist as primary eye care provider.
Highlights:
• 152,441 people screened and glasses
dispensed where needed
• 8,151 referrals made
• 9 Optometry programs / schools supported*
• 2,324 people trained
• 13 Optical Labs and Vision Centres supported
• 12 local people developed as future faculty
*Optometry Programs receiving funding support:
Eritrea
Nicaragua
Malawi
Vietnam
Mali
Cameroon
Haiti
Mozambique
Moldova
Sahondranirina and Raveloson
are two students from Madagascar
who have just completed their
Diplomas of Optometry in Mali,
West Africa*. They recently
returned home after 3 years of
studying abroad with some big
dreams for the future.
“I want to start working immediately
to provide for the people that
need refraction services and refer
those with other eye problems,”
said Sahondranirina. “We plan
to conduct a number of outreach
programs and establish a
centre for refractive services in
Photo courtesy Brien Holden Vision Institute
Madagascar. We also want to
work with the Ministry of Health in
order to garner enough attention for the project.”
“I am hoping that many more people will choose to study
optometry and over the next few years we can start making
a marked difference,” said Raveloson. “The biggest problem
we have at the moment is that there are just two of us.”
*The School of Optometry program in Mali is part funded by Optometry Giving
Sight and implemented by the Brien Holden Vision Institute in association with
Institute of Tropical Ophthalmology
To donate visit
www.givingsight.org
or call 1-800-585-8265 ext 4
Optical Prism | June Digital 2015 13