About Us
Rationale
There are 39 million blind people across the globe. 20% of them, that is, eight million people will be able to see if they are helped with a corneal transplant. According to a report published by the World Health Organization in 2010, India is home to the world’s largest number of blind people -15 million persons. Three million of them could be given the gift of sight through a corneal transplant, which can be accomplished only through eye donation.
Similarly, most other countries in the world have a shortage of corneas. Even if a country has enough corneas for the requirements of all its blind citizens, any extra cornea collected will be sent to other countries that have shortages. Thus when you promote eye donation, it benefits the visually challenged people somewhere in the world. The Project Vision is a global movement to eliminate corneal blindness from the world in ten years. We want to ensure that everyone who is waiting to see for want of cornea will get a chance.
“There is no greater joy than to see someone getting sight or shelter or food. It is a blessing when it happens through you.”
Fr George Kannanthanam — Director
TPV at a glance
Mission Statement
To provide an opportunity for every corneal blind person to gain sight, and for the permanently blind to live a full life.
Vision Statement
‘LET EVERYONE SEE’
Our Goals
– To make eye donation a globally accepted norm and practice.
– To provide affordable eye care facilities for the rural population.
– To ensure a meaningful life to permanently blind persons.
– To promote and create awareness about eye donation.
– To ensure support and care for persons with disabilities.
Scope of Work
There are different areas of work for the people with visual problems that offer great possibilities for us to contribute positively. The main scope is in the line of eye donations. At present approximately only 35,000 corneas are collected in India every year, whereas 150,000 are required annually to combat corneal blindness. As a result, the patient line-up and wait to get a corneal transplant keeps getting longer with each passing day. Furthermore, the cost of cornea transplant in addition to unavailability for corneas makes it practically impossible for underprivileged people to access these medical remedies.
Another area of work will be to get the permanently blind person to lead a better life. There is a huge dearth of trained person to deal with disability issues. Advocacy work needed to ensure the rights of persons with blindness. The global fact that 82% of the persons with disabilities belong to the economically weaker section of the society, calls us to focus on this segment. Providing affordable eye care to the rural population is another area of interest. We have particularly selected to work for the rural areas beyond Bangalore city where a campus for their treatment and rehabilitation is being developed.
Dreaming for the unseeable!
The fact of every third of the 39 million blind in the world being an Indian challenged us. A group of fifty of us took the challenge.
The outcome was The Project Vision.
A new vision was needed. We came out with a movement model. An army was needed to make it successful. We invented the concept of Vision Ambassadors. We knew that creative programs were critical to spread the message. We did worlds’ first Blind Walk.
We knew that the visually challenged needed our caring touch. We organized the VISION15 New Year program for them. We knew only advocacy can make major changes. We organized the World Sight Day with the Union Health Minister. Many had made lifelong commitment to the field. We instituted the Project Vision Awards. Eye care and rehabilitation of the visually challenged beyond Bangalore is a major challenge. We have started to establish a world class center. An eventful first year of Project Vision has been completed. Here is our annual report. You journeyed with us and made it possible. THANKS.
Achieving great feats need a great deal of planning. We have put our minds together to compile our dreams for the next five years. Vision 2020 Strategic plan of The Project Vision is presented here.
TOGETHER, WE CAN. WITH YOU, WE WILL.
Inviting to journey with us.