SightFirst OKs US$4.7 Million in Grants

The Lions of Cameroon began battling "river blindness" in the early 1990s with funding from SightFirst. Since then, more than 10.5 million Cameroonians have kept their sight. The disease, which can’t be cured, is being controlled.

River blindness is caused by microscopic parasitic worms that enter the body from the bites of black flies that swarm around rivers. Partnering with the Carter Center, other non-profits and national ministries of health, SightFirst has helped deliver more than 70 million Mectizan treatments in 11 countries in Africa and the Americas since 1996. Mectizan is donated by the pharmaceutical company Merck.

To continue to keep blindness at bay, the SightFirst Advisory Committee (SAC) approved US$3.1 million in January for Cameroon Lions’ efforts against onchocerciasis, known as river blindness. The grant will enable Lions to distribute a planned 7 million more treatments of Mectizan, which controls onchocerciasis.

The grant was among 13 totaling US$4.7 million approved by LCIF’s SAC. The other grants will enable Lions to provide cataract surgeries, upgrade eye hospitals and clinics, treat diabetic retinopathy and train eye health workers. Besides Cameroon, the grants were for projects in Argentina, Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Laos, Mexico, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

The latest grant for Cameroon, a nation of 16 million people and 230 ethnicities in West Africa, will extend the river blindness control program in seven provinces and begin treatments in the one province not covered. The treatments are done in partnership with the Carter Center, Helen Keller International, International Eye Foundation and PersPective.

SightFirst is a global initiative of LCIF and Lions to prevent blindness and restore sight. LCIF has approved 771 grants in 89 countries for a total of US$187 million.

Grants are approved three times a year by the SAC, composed of Lions international leaders and some of the world's foremost blindness prevention experts.