Seeing is Believing awards eight eye health innovation grants

In May 2013, Seeing is Believing called on innovators from across the world to bid for funding to develop new ideas with the potential for significant impact on the way eye health is delivered in low-middle income countries.

After receiving over 300 proposals from institutions from more than 50 countries, eight grants have been awarded.

The grants were given  to CBM UK- an international disability charity which aims to establish the optimal and most cost-effective primary treatment for glaucoma in Africa; to Ellex Medical Pty. Ltd which strives to halve the cost of cutting-edge lasers for eye treatments in the developing world  and  to Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, one of the largest hospital trusts in England, for applying innovative NHS practices to train health workers on one of the leading causes of blindness.

The recipients were also the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (two grants) which seeks to improve management skills for remote-based, mid-level health workers in some African countries and test new approaches to tackling glaucoma, the Operation Eyesight Universal (Operation Eyesight), a Canadian-based NGO, for a revolutionary approach to school screening in Africa and The Royal Society for the Blind (RSB), a not-for-profit organisation based in Australia for its endeavours to prove that with some assistance, blind people can be productive employees in South East Asia.

The grant honoured one private company - Wake Forest University Health Sciences- for bridging the surgical gap to tackle blinding trachoma in Africa.  

Richard Meddings, chairman of Seeing is Believing, said “When we announced that we were giving grants to find new and innovative solutions for eye health in low-middle income countries these initiatives are exactly what we wanted. If they prove to be successful, they can be expanded to other hospitals and communities, in Africa, Asia and beyond.”

Peter Ackland, head of IAPB, said “We have a series of great ideas to bring new solutions to some of the barriers standing in the way of eliminating avoidable blindness for good. The projects seek to tackle some of the biggest challenges in eye health. Giving innovators the freedom to test their ideas could help us find the next breakthrough in eye health innovation.”

Two kinds of innovation grants were made available: a $50,000 grant to back the development of innovations at initial pilot stage; and a $200,000 grant to support innovations that have undergone some initial testing and are looking to prepare themselves for scale up. 

These grants represent the first wave of grants being offered. With $2 million worth of funding still left to allocate, the next wave of funds will be made available over the next five years. 

Standard Chartered is a leading international banking group with a history of over 150 years. The group consists of 1,700 offices with over 88,000 staff and earns around 90 per cent of its income and profits in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.