Sightsavers

Sightsavers
Founded1950; 74 years ago (1950) (as British Empire Society for the Blind)
FounderJohn Wilson (blind activist)
Lady Jean Wilson
TypeINGO
Location
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Caroline Harper CBE (CEO)[1]
Sir Clive Jones (Chair of Trustees)[2]
Chris Whitty (Trustee)
Dominic Haslam OBE (Director of Policy and Programme Strategy)[3]
Simon Bush (Director Neglected Tropical Diseases)[4]
Websitewww.sightsavers.org

Sightsavers is an international non-governmental organisation that works with partners in developing countries to treat and prevent avoidable blindness, and promote equality for people with visual impairments and other disabilities. It is based in Haywards Heath in the United Kingdom, with branches in Sweden, Norway, India, Italy, Republic of Ireland, the United Arab Emirates, and the US.

The charity was founded in 1950 by Sir John Wilson[5] and was originally called the British Empire Society for the Blind,[6] then the Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind. Its patron is Princess Alexandra.[7] Between 1950 and 2018, Sightsavers had distributed over 1 billion treatments to prevent potentially debilitating diseases [8] and supported 7.3 million sight-restoring cataract operations.[9]

  1. ^ https://rstmh.org/blog/2019/nov/25/dr-caroline-harper-sightsavers-ceo-announced-first-winner-hemingway-award [dead link‍]
  2. ^ "Sightsavers welcomes new Chair of Trustees, Sir Clive Jones CBE | Charity Today News". 8 July 2019.
  3. ^ "Brighton resident and director of Sightsavers made an OBE". 13 June 2019.
  4. ^ "Simon Bush". 29 January 2020.
  5. ^ "Sir John Wilson". The Guardian. 1999-11-30. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-09-27.
  6. ^ "Corporate insights clarify Sightsavers' vision". Financial Times. 22 December 2011.
  7. ^ Emma.Goodey (2016-02-01). "Princess Alexandra and Sightsavers". The Royal Family. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
  8. ^ "Sightsavers delivers one-billionth treatment to fight neglected tropical diseases! | www.trachomacoalition.org". www.trachomacoalition.org. Retrieved 2022-05-19.
  9. ^ https://www.sightsavers.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/AnnualReport2018.pdf [bare URL PDF]