The Bureau for the Prevention of Blindness, Council's Eye Care Division, is coordinating and conducting various cataract blitzes (high volume cataract surgeries) in six of the provinces during the month of October in order to put eye care services in the reach of under-serviced, rural communities.

Each cataract surgery, which is performed in under 30 minutes, gives the gift of sight back to each patient – and the Bureau plans to be instrumental in giving this gift to as many as over 700 people.

These blitzes take place as part of the Eye Care Awareness Month (ECAM) campaign. This is a South African initiative held annually in the month of October in order to raise awareness about the importance of eye health, specifically around the prevention and treatment of avoidable blindness. International World Sigh Day, which will be held on 13 October, is an important day within the ECAM calendar.

In the words of Mthobi Tyamzashe, Executive Director CSI and Chairman of the Vodacom Foundation (one of our main Eye Care sponsors): “Many South Africans go about their lives enduring preventable physical illnesses that can be eliminated at very low cost and in little or no time, given today’s technological advancements. Vodacom has chosen to play a positive role in ensuring that such unfortunate citizens are not lost from making their contribution towards a sound economy, through partnerships like the one with the South African National Council for the Blind.”

80% of blindness is avoidable either through prevention or through treatment, which is why ECAM's message: “Love your eyes” and get your eyes tested at least once per year, is so important.

For more information call Feni at the Bureau on 012 452-3811 or send us an email.

The South African National Council for the Blind was awarded the Discovery Foundation Excellence Award at a prestigious function on 23 June 2011, for the rural outreach work done by our Bureau for the Prevention of Blindness.

Overview of the Discovery Foundation Awards

In 2011, the Discovery Foundation made 29 awards in four categories. These awards will benefit healthcare in South Africa through financial support for Academic Medicine and research, specialist and sub-specialist training, rural healthcare and healthcare service delivery, innovation and training.

Council received the Discovery Foundation Excellence Award:
The Discovery Foundation Excellence Award alms to boost organisations that display excellence in service delivery, training and innovation to benefit South African healthcare, particularly if they strengthen human resources in the sector.

Discovery Foundation Excellence Award: South African National Council for the Blind (SANCB)
The two leading causes of blindness in South Africa are cataracts (50%) (a clouding of the lens of the eye) and glaucoma (14%) (an increase of pressure inside the eye). Cataract blindness is curable through surgery while glaucoma can be treated with drugs and surgery.

With the help of the private sector and established public infrastructure, the SANCB's clinical outreach division - the Bureau for the Prevention of Blindness - performs on average 4 000 cataract surgeries per year in remote areas where the Government does not have the capacity to intervene effectively. Making use of four mobile surgical eye care units, the Bureau reaches out to those who would otherwise remain needlessly blind. The mobile units undertake 100 tours of five to six days each to rural areas annually. Patients are screened, spectacles dispensed, and medicines and other treatments prescribed. The last few days of each tour are dedicated to surgery and post-surgical examination.

The award will help the Bureau to undertake 11 mobile eye care tours in Limpopo Province during 2011. The SANCB does not presently have the funds to provide services in this province.

You can download our eye care awareness poster and brochures from this page. Print it and display it where you can. Together we can save many people from going blind needlessly. Remember 80% of blindness is avoidable!!

The World Health Organisation (WHO) released preliminary data for the global prevalence of blindness and visual impairment, shortly before World Sight Day.

According to the new preliminary estimates, visual impairment has reduced from 314 million people in 2004, to 285.3 million today. Of these, an estimated 39.8 million people worldwide are blind, the rest are partially sighted. For full view the World Sight Day 2010 Press Release from the link below.

The South African National Council for the Blind is proud to be part of the WHO's Vision 2020 programme that is responsible for the decline in persons who are needlessly blind.