Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) conducted ‘Vi sion Run 2006’ at the Vihara Mahadevi Park recently. The run was part of the Bank’s ‘Seeing is Believing’ initiative to counter avoidable blindness. The objective was to raise public awareness and funds through the sale of green and blue wristbands inspired by blind Kenyan distance runner Henry Wanyoike. Explaining the motive behind the ‘Seeing is Believing’ campaign, Vishnu Mohan said “In a developing world a person goes blind every five seconds and a child every minute. What is staggering about this is that much of this is preventable. Restoration of sight is the most cost effective intervention in health care. Blindness has a significant impact on both the individual and the family because without sight one is helpless and dependent, which in turn has a draining impact on the productivity of the community as well as the economy.” Standard Chartered’s ‘Seeing is Believing’ project is being implemented by Christoffel
Blindenmission (CBM) Liaison office. The project includes the provision of equipment for eye surgery to regional hospitals, training Ophthalmologists in Small Incision Cataract surgery, training of Ophthalmic theatre nurses and providing primary eye care training for healthcare workers. The key element of the project is that it enables early identification of several eye conditions and training in vision testing.
