By Daniel Hamon
According to the U.S. Agency for International Development, there are 17 million children in the world with low vision or blurred eye sight. The end result is that most of these children do poorly in school because they are not able to see the blackboard or letters in a book. There are also many children that require advanced care, including eye surgery. In many countries, once children become blind, they are no longer able to obtain an education and participate in society.
According to the U.S. Agency for International Development, there are 17 million children in the world with low vision or blurred eye sight. The end result is that most of these children do poorly in school because they are not able to see the blackboard or letters in a book. There are also many children that require advanced care, including eye surgery. In many countries, once children become blind, they are no longer able to obtain an education and participate in society.
In the past year, the USAID Child Blindness Program has assisted over a million people in 23 countries through health education, comprehensive vision screening, refractive error correction, sight-restoring surgery, and education for blind children. Since 1991, USAID has supported programs to reduce childhood blindness.
Working with local partners, USAID has provided provided vision screening and given 11,000 pairs of glasses to children this year. It has also restored sight to 921 children in 10 countries this year and is supporting educational training for blind children.
Kean, a 6-year old boy from the Philipppines became blind shortly after his birth but is now receiving therapy at Resources for the Blind in the Philippines, an institution that USAID has been supporting since 2006. Kean is now able to talk and play with other children, and his mother has enrolled him in elementary school.
USAID/R. Nyberg
The American people, through the U.S. Agency for International Development, have provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for nearly 50 years.
Thank you Dan for sharing how a caring hand can open up an entire world to others!
Posted by: Dana | April 01, 2009 at 09:41 AM
Thank for let us know about these things, I can't help with money, by I pray all days for God bless all peopel that help others.
Posted by: Ligia | April 05, 2009 at 12:52 PM