Lions Clubs International have many projects which are either of such a large scale or have a global applicability that requires them to be managed in a co-ordinated way. Ongoing programmes can be viewed by visiting the Lions Clubs International website, click here or select it from the menu on the left.
By far the most ambitious programme is “to eradicate preventable eye disease” and the Lions’ Vision Programmes are working towards this goal. The most significant of these programmes is SightFirst whose accomplishments since 1990 are astounding:
Awarded over £100 million for 896 projects in 90 countries
Provided 7.3 million cataract surgeries
Prevented serious vision loss for 27 million
Improved eye care services for hundreds of millions
Provided 114.1 million treatments for river blindness
Built or expanded 300 eye hospitals/clinics/wards
Upgraded 337 eye centres with equipment
Provided management training for 115 facilities
Trained 345,000 ophthalmologists, ophthalmic nurses, other professional eye care workers and village health workers
Provided management training for 115 facilities
Launched world’s first-ever initiative to combat childhood blindness in partnership with the World Health Organization. The 30 pediatric eye care centers established or strengthened have impacted the lives of 71 million children
Each year we contribute some of the money we have raised and you have kindly given to the SightFirst programme.
You can help financially, £17 will pay for a cataract operation to restore an adult’s sight, 5p annually will pay to prevent river blindness disease taking away sight. You can help practically simply by giving us your old spectacles so we can get them to those who can use them, restoring clear vision often means the difference between employment and unemployment, feeding the family or not, so please let us have your old glasses.