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Facts |

Prevention of Blindness |

Rehabilitation |

Disability Rights |

Achievements |

Examples |

Facts

• There are about 37 million blind people living in the world.
• Over 180 million people have a serious visual impairment.
• 90% of all blind people are living in developing countries.
• Every second blind person could be cured by simple measures.
• In 75% of all cases, blindness could be prevented with simple means.

• According to estimates made by the WHO there are 650 million people with disabilities worldwide.
• 70% - 80% of these people are living in developing countries.
• 45 million are disabled children.
• 90% of rehabilitation measures worldwide are undertaken in industrialised countries.

The causes: Poverty leads to blindness and disability

Poverty is by far the most frequent common cause of blindness and disability. People in developing countries go blind or become disabled as a result of

• lack of safe water and bad hygiene
• malnutrition
• insufficient medical care
• lack of knowledge and understanding about the possibilities of avoiding or curing disabling diseases
• natural disasters and civil wars

Of the 650 million disabled persons worldwide, 80% live in developing countries. Only a small percentage of persons with disabilities have access to basic health care and basic schooling. In this cycle of poverty and disability, people are deprived of their fundamental human rights. They are largely excluded from development processes and basic services.

In more than 50% of the cases in developing countries, disabilities are avoidable. This is true of the woman who has become blind from a cataract as well as the child who has a club foot which prevents him from walking.

LIGHT FOR THE WORLD supports local partner organisations to provide access to basic health care and rehabilitation services to assist such persons with disabilities and their families. LIGHT FOR THE WORLD has also set itself the objective of opening up new prospects and opportunities for persons with disabilities in developing countries by supporting development projects which create mobility, provide education and income-generating initiatives.Another key objective is to raise the awareness of the family and whole community about disability and how to better include persons with disabilities in all areas of the communities’ activities.
This is an important basis for integration and thereby ensures that persons with disabilities will be able to steer the course of their own lives.

The following figures identify the numbers of persons who have been supported by projects funded by LIGHT FOR THE WORLD. In 91 projects, which LIGHT FOR THE WORLD supported in 2007 in 14 countries, a total of 490 000 people were examined, treated, trained or operated. And among them:

• 27.281 cataract surgeries,
• 13.072 children with disabilities received assistance and rehabilitation

In 2007, the development funds were distributed in accordance with the following four focal points of the work of LIGHT FOR THE WORLD:

• Prevention of avoidable blindness and Restoring eyesight 51.89%
• Rehabilitation of persons who are blind or persons with other disabilities 34.38%
• Prevention and treatment of disabling conditions 9.55%
• Promotion of the rights of disabled people and organisations of disabled people 4.17%

Our principles

Our principles in the cooperation with partners in underprivileged regions are:

• We support local partners in marginalized areas of our world in their work with/for people who are blind, otherwise disabled, or at risk of becoming disabled.
• We provide help irrespective of gender, ethnicity and religious creed, and we pay special attention to disadvantaged groups, such as women, children, indigenous peoples and groups on the fringe of society.
• We are guided by the needs of the people affected.
• Our programs reach as many people as possible.
• We support sustainable programs which promote the social integration of blind people or otherwise disabled people into their community.
• We support programs even in difficult times and tackle current challenges with patience, perseverance and flexibility.
• We ensure that our funds are used in an efficient and economical way in our project work and uphold the principles of ecological and social sustainability as well as fair trade relations wherever possible.
• We enable people to participate in a global exchange of experience about effective and efficient concepts for the program areas we support.

© LIGHT FOR THE WORLD - Christoffel Development Cooperation
info@light-for-the-world.org