Secretary of state supports cataract event

Supporters of CBM in Britain can watch the operation via a live weblink on the mission's UK website when Kenyan ophthalmologist Stephen Gichuhi conducts the procedure at the CBM-run Kikuyu Eye Unit in Nairobi. Clare Short, secretary of state for overseas development, said: 'The work of Christian Blind Mission is vital as part of the effort to improve the quality of healthcare available to those in the developing world. In helping to strengthen national health systems in general, it is creating a sustainable infrastructure to enable service to be delivered equitably.' There are 50 million blind people, and CBM estimates that 80 per cent of them should be able to see. Of this figure, 90 per cent live in developing countries, and they are 10 times more likely to lose their sight than those in western industrial countries. CBM has helped the Vision 2020: the Right to Sight initiative which is being led by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and aims to combat the curable and avoidable causes of blindness, such as cataract, by the year 2020. Bill McAllister, director of CBM UK, said: 'CBM's four millionth cataract operation marks a milestone in our achievements to date, but more importantly represents a much wider story about future action - the start of a global crusade to eradicate preventable blindness by 2020. With 50 million blind people in the world, our work has only just begun.' CBM has been striving to eliminate avoidable blindness since 1908, and currently runs 1,051 projects in 108 developing countries. In 1999, it provided medical care to 9.7 million people and conducted almost 100,000 more cataract operations than the combined efforts of the NHS. - www.cbmuk.org.uk