Eye Health

Wen Giving believes education and training is the key to improved and sustainable futures in eye health.

Wen Giving has partnered with leading eye health institutes to present Mission Saksham, a scholarship program run by Mission for Vision to provide students with the opportunity to train as Allied Ophthalmic Personnel (AOP). This program addresses the critical shortage of AOPs in developing countries, a significant barrier to the delivery of eye health services.

Through supporting 16 AOP projects, Wen Giving is providing 2000 grants to eye health partners in Indian to support AOP scholarships of students from socio-economically disadvantaged communities in India. Wen Giving is committed to empowering women through equal access to education and employment opportunities and for this reason, preference is given to female students in the AOP scholarship program.

Scholarship recipients are trained in eye health skills to work in Vision Centres, Hospitals and Outreach Services. This education and training assist the recipients to achieve economic independence for themselves and their family.

Through Wen Giving Foundation’s scholarship support, these AOPs will provide impactful, quality eye care services to over 5 million people in need.

Wen Giving currently partners and provides AOP grants to:

• Sankara Eye Foundation: 217 grants
• LV Prasad Eye Institute: 94 grants
• Sri Sankaradeva Nethralaya: 45 grants
• Vivekananda Mission Ashram: 30 grants
• Pushpagiri Vitreo Retina: 20 grants
• Sitapure Eye Hospital: 20 grants
• Divayajyoti Tejas Eye Hospital: 20 grants
• SPECS: 2 grants

Vision Centres are small clinics that offer affordable, primary eye health care services in rural and remote communities. They are run by Allied Ophthalmic Personnel (AOPs), specially trained by leading eye health institutions through scholarships provided by Wen Giving Foundation.

Through supporting 11 projects, Wen Giving Foundation is providing 200 grants to eye health partners in Indian to support Vision Centre partners. Wen Giving Foundation also provides support to six futuristic vision centres.

Through its grants program, Wen Giving Foundation is committed to supporting the establishment of 200 Vision Centres is communities in need in India. Each Vision Centre will service a population of approximately 50,000 people; providing high quality screening facilities, affordable eye spectacles, referral services and education initiatives to improve eye health awareness and outcomes for communities now, and into the future.

Wen Giving Foundation currently partners and provides Vision Centre grants to:

• LV Prasad Eye Institute, 33 grants, Odisha
• Siliguri Greater Lions Eye Hospital, 5 grants, Sikkim & West Bengal
• Sri Sankaradeva Nethralaya, 3 grants, Assam
• Shija Eye Care Foundation, 5 grants, Manipur
• Vivekananda Mission Ashram, 5 grants, Sunderbans, West Bengal
• Sewa Sadan Eye Hospital, 5 grants, Madhya Pradesh
• Sadguru Netra Chikitasalya, 5 grants, Uttar Pradesh
• SPECS, 1 grant, Meghalaya
• HV Desai Eye Hospital, 4 grants, Maharashtra

Outreach Services mobilise eye health workers to provide quality health services to rural and remote communities who otherwise could not access such assistance.

Many people who are vulnerable to diseases which cause preventable blindness live in rural and remote areas and for these people, access to quality eye health services is incredibly challenging due to the significant distances required to travel and the economic impost.

Wen Giving Foundation has purchased medically equipped outreach vehicles to allow Outreach Services, run predominantly by Community Eye Hospitals, to provide quality care to these hard-to-access communities.

Lions Outback Vision – Outreach Vehicle

Wen Giving Foundation has provided a dedicated vehicle to allow ophthalmology doctors and outreach staff travel to people in need of quality and effective eye health care living in rural and regional Western Australia.

Lions Outback Vision – Vision Van Program

Wen Giving Foundation supports Lions Outback Vision with the shared belief that all Australians should be able to access comprehensive and appropriate eye health care services irrespective of where they may live. In supporting the Vision Van Program, Wen Giving Foundation provides specialist eye health services to improve the eye health of rural, remote and Indigenous West Australians. Engage and work with local health services to determine service needs and gaps within the context of their own community

Tulsi Chanrai Eye Hospital – Mobile Primary Eye Care Bus

Around a fourth of the world’s blind people live in India. The majority of the population at-risk of preventable blindness live in rural areas and the threat of blindness increases significantly with poverty, age and gender, with the prevalence being higher among women. Wen Giving Foundation provides the Tulsi Chanrai Eye Hospital with a primary care bus that takes eye health services directly to these communities in need, serving close to 50,000 people each year, who otherwise would not have access to eye health care.

LV Prasad Eye Institute – 1500 Outreach Cataract Surgeries

Cataract and uncorrected refractive error are the main eye disorders in India. Wen Giving Foundation supports the LV Prasad Eye Institute in bringing critical eye health care to extremely vulnerable and marginalised communities in India by assisting in the provision of Outreach cataract surgeries for 1500 people and eye spectacles for 4500 people, including presbyopia correction. This project aims to end avoidable vision loss among the marginalised Dongria community, categorised as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) in the Rayagada district of Odisha. The Indian Government has identified 52 such groups – and 13 of them reside in Odisha, spread over around 10 districts. Due to their isolation and marginalisation, communities such as the Dongria, have even less access to quality eye health care, a situation Wen Giving Foundation wants to turnaround.

HV Desai Eye Hospital – Eye cancer treatment for babies

Retinoblastoma (RB) is the most common and life-threatening eye cancer in young children from newborns to children 6 years of age. Retinoblastoma can affect one or both the eyes and each year, more than 8,000 new cases of retinoblastoma are diagnosed all around the world, of which a third (over 2,500) are diagnosed in India.

If detected and treated appropriately, retinoblastoma can be cured, and vision saved. Wen Giving Foundation has partnered with HV Desai Eye Hospital, Pune, Maharashtra to provide grants to treat babies suffering retinoblastoma. Treatment of retinoblastoma requires a multidisciplinary approach and through Wen Giving Foundation’s support, affected babies are provided the care of ocular, paediatric and radiation oncologists as well as onco-pathologist and genetic counselling to achieve optimum outcomes.

In order for the best ideas and initiatives to have the greatest chance of success, Wen Giving Foundation believes quality infrastructure allows eye health teams to effectively carry out meaningful work.

Wen Giving Foundation funds infrastructure projects and capital works across the globe to support important eye health programs. These include:

Tertiary Hospitals: Which have the capacity to serve large populations of people and offer a spectrum of eye healthcare services.

Centres of Excellence: Research and innovation hubs, which engage in advocacy for eye health care policy.

Community Eye Hospitals: Which offer on-the-ground eye health treatment to combat avoidable blindness for local populations.

Training and Residential facilities: One location where students can learn and live, regardless of socio-economic background.

Nav Bharat Jagriti Kendra Community Eye Hospital in Gaya, Bihar

Wen Giving Foundation has funded the construction of a Community Eye Hospital in Gaya. The district of Gaya in the Eastern Indian state of Bihar, is one of the most underprivileged areas of the country. The modern eye hospital serves Gaya and the neighbouring districts of Nawada and Jehanabad in Bihar, covering a population of over 692,000. None of these districts have regular, full-time eye services. The goal of the new hospital is to eliminate avoidable blindness from Gaya and neighbouring districts by providing high quality, comprehensive and equitable eye services.

Himalayan Cataract Project – National Community Eye Hospital in Bhutan

Wen Giving Foundation supports the vision and aspiration of leading Nepalese ophthalmologist Dr Sanduk Ruit and together, they share the mission to alleviate preventable blindness in the world.

In building a new Eye Hospital, Wen Giving Foundation is helping Bhutan reach its World Health Organisation goals to alleviate cataract blindness. This major, national community eye hospital provides eye health screening and treatment for people across Bhutan, taking the view that everyone, regardless of financial status, deserves the best eye care.

Himalayan Cataract Project – Community Eye Hospital in Ethiopia

Ethiopia has one of the highest national burdens of blindness in the world, with an estimated 800,000 backlog of people with cataract blindness. Only 70,000 Ethiopians receive cataract surgery each year, leaving hundreds of thousands waiting for care.

Wen Giving Foundation has provided funding towards a new community eye hospital in Ethiopia to alleviate the growing backlog of needless blindness in the Amhara region, provide quality eye care to everyone who needs it and build ophthalmic capacity in Ethiopia through specialised training programs.

Sankara Eye Foundation – Tertiary Eye Hospital – specialty wing in Indore, Madhya Pradesh

Wen Giving Foundation has funded a specialty wing within the major tertiary eye facility providing comprehensive eye health care in the community and in the Indore region. This specialty wing within the tertiary centre will serve patients in Indore and the neighbouring districts of Dewas, Dhar, Barwani, West Nimar (Khargone) in Madhya Pradesh, covering a population of over 7.5 million. Most of these districts do not have quality, regular, full-time eye services and the state of Madhya Pradesh has a high prevalence of avoidable blindness.

LV Prasad Eye Institute – Operating Theatre Complex at a Tertiary Eye Hospital in Balasore, Odisha

It is estimated that 80 per cent of blindness is avoidable if people get the right treatment on time.

Wen Giving Foundation funded the construction of the Operating Theatre complex at the Tertiary Eye Hospital in Balasore, Odisha; providing medical and surgical care, primarily for cataract, glaucoma and other common conditions to over 20,000 outpatients and conducting 2,000 surgeries annually. In this project, Wen Giving Foundation has also funded the establishment of 10 Vision Centres to deliver primary eye care services. The project will address the eye health needs of over 2.3 million people including patients from adjoining districts.

Sankara Eye Foundation – Major sponsor of Tertiary Eye Hospital in Panvel, Maharashtra

In Panvel, Maharashtra, Wen Giving Foundation is a major sponsor of the construction of the super specialty Tertiary Eye Hospital. Through its support, the hospital includes 200 beds for free eye health treatment, five operating theatres, seven ophthalmologists, two general practitioners and almost 50 paramedical staff, all providing quality eye care to patients in the region.

LV Prasad Eye Institute – Vitreoretina Department at a Tertiary Eye Hospital, in Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh

In the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, up to 15,000 new cases of bilateral visual loss per million population are reported each year and more than 90 per cent is avoidable. India is also grappling with the increase of Diabetes and its negative impact on eye health, particularly retinal anomalies. Wen Giving Foundation has supported the establishment of the retina and vitreous department within the Kadapa Eye Hospital to ensure perpetual continuity of quality eye health services to the marginalised and impoverished community. The hospital’s mission is to eradicate avoidable blindness through equitable and excellent comprehensive eye.

LV Prasad Eye Institute – Training and Residential Facility in Bhubaneswar, Odisha

Allied ophthalmic personnel (AOP) are critically important in delivery of eye health care in India. Presently, there is a gross shortage of AOP, which seriously hampers the delivery of quality eye care service and the battle against preventable and curable blindness. These personnel are responsible for providing primary and secondary level eye care; a level where nearly 80 to 85 per cent of eye conditions can be treated. Wen Giving Foundation has funded the construction of a sizeable training and residential facility in Bhubaneswar, Odisha to provide a safe and conducive residential facility for trainee Allied Ophthalmic Personnel, with preference given to female candidates. Most AOP trainees come from socio-economically challenged backgrounds and providing accommodation and other facilities for them during their training is highly beneficial.

Siliguri Greater Lions Eye Hospital – Training and Residential Facility in Siliguri, West Bengal

One of the greatest challenges to reducing the prevalence of avoidable blindness is the lack of trained eye care personnel and the effective use of the existing personnel. To support the training and retention of students, Wen Giving Foundation has funded the residential facility and training for Allied Ophthalmic Personnel in Siliguri, West Bengal. The training program, provided by the Tertiary Eye Hospital, empowers young people, particularly females from low socio-economic backgrounds to learn essential, in-demand eye health care skills to gain employment and become self-reliant.