By the time you read this, a new eye hospital will have opened in Quiché, Guatemala. It’s part of Guatemala Brillando—a bold 10-year, $55 million initiative by Seva Foundation and partner-on-the-ground Visualiza to create the first self-sustaining national eye care network in Central America.
From the Himalayan mountains to the Amazonian rainforests of Peru, Seva delivers vital eye care to 20+ countries. So pack your virtual bags, and take a trip with us right from your screens to witness the beauty you create in this world.
First Stop BANGLADESH
Since 2006, Seva has worked in Bangladesh to deliver vital eye care, treatment, and resources for those in remote communities. Here, the rate of blindness is nearly 3X that of the United States. Access to eye care is everything.
Earlier this year, we set out to raise funds for 7 new Vision Centers (VC) across the country, matched by a generous family – and we achieved it, together! These new VCs, currently in development, will create immediate access to eye care for 700,000 people in remote areas and will address up to 80% of all of their eye care needs!
We know eye health affects nearly everyone at some point in our lives. Worldwide, there are currently 1.1 billion people living with vision impairment, and hundreds of millions more have ongoing eye care needs.
Improved eye health is essential to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG for short). That means eye health is critical to achieving goals related to poverty, hunger, education, gender equality, and decent work, in addition to overall health and wellbeing. A Lancet Commission Report released earlier this year noted that the economic impact of vision impairment is massive, with a current estimated productivity loss of $411 billion per year globally.
Photo: Our partner – Quasem Foundation opened this VC on September 19th 2020. Patients getting screened at Seva-supported Domar Vision Center in Bangladesh.
Even in a year as challenging as 2020, Seva’s programs soared. Between June and December of last year, we supported six new vision centers. Now we’re on track to fund a total of 30 by June 30, 2021 (beating our goal of 13)! Our largest number of these new vision centers are in India; others are located in Nepal, Cambodia, Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru. This year also marks our first vision centers in Latin America!