Why Support Optometry Giving Sight ?
Brien A Holden, PhD, DSc, OAM, Chair and CEO of Optometry Giving Sight - 2007
Optometry Giving Sight?
I was asked recently why optometry should support Optometry Giving Sight – especially when many optometrists (and vendors) already support local charities.
My response, as always, was to highlight the fact that Optometry Giving Sight is a truly unique and unprecedented partnership between optometrists and all the blindness prevention agencies who are members of the IAPB.
As a result, we are helping to “make poverty history” and ensuring that optometry is now playing a crucial role in the global campaign against all forms of avoidable blindness. This campaign is led by governments with input from the WHO and more than 80 non-government organisations.
In financial terms, our aim is to make "the fundraising pie" bigger by galvanising the support of the optometric industry and inviting you to make Optometry Giving Sight your charity of choice.
Our modelling shows that globally, we will need to generate $150 million (nearly £60 million) from optometrists and their patients over the next 13 years if we are to make a real difference in the lives of the estimated 300 million people who are blind or vision impaired due to uncorrected refractive error.
This figure seems high, but it translates to little more than a regular $25 (£10) per month donation from around 25% of the world’s optometrists.
That seems a small price to pay when we are reminded of the incredible impact that an eye exam and a pair of glasses can have in the life of someone in a developing country.
Our experience also tells us that we can leverage these funds with governments and industry – sometimes at a ratio of as much as 10:1. We have recently had success in attracting significant industry funds to support our priority project in East Africa – and we have been part of discussions with our VISION 2020 partners to encourage Australian Government support for a comprehensive blindness prevention program in South East Asia and the Pacific.
I am indebted for the support that we already receive from so many people within our industry – and specifically the hundreds of optometrists who choose to support Optometry Giving Sight through regular donations, annual gifts and through practice and patient giving.
In the words of Sue Larter from Australia: “Optometry Giving Sight is the obvious charity for optometrists to support… spectacles are what we do best. If optometry can't support the prevention of such a huge percentage of world blindness, I don't know who should.”
If you haven’t already, please take the Challenge and make your donation to Optometry Giving Sight on or before World Sight Day.
