2005-2006 Annual Report - The International Eye Foundation

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Message from the
President and
Executive Director
In our lifetimes, medicine has made tremendous strides in preventing
and treating eye disease. Just 20 years ago, 6 million people in the world
were blind from trachoma. Today, it’s 1.3 million. Just 15 years ago,
there were 350,000 blind from onchocerciasis (river blindness), today
it’s 295,000 thanks to IEF, our sister agencies, the World Health
Organization, and the governments of developing countries themselves.
Susan T. Fritschler
President
As these scourges were being reduced, IEF began turning its attention to
new challenges facing developing countries. We began to focus on the
quality of eye care being delivered, and looked for ways to improve the
management, efficiency, productivity, and financial viability of eye clinics
and hospitals. Our experience told us that many patients didn’t seek eye
care because they didn’t want to go to a public hospital and could not
afford the higher prices of a private clinic, or they were afraid of the
medical procedures, or they tired of waiting in long lines and of being
told to return at a later date. Our experience also told us that many of
these patient concerns could be overcome by management improvements
in the eye care delivery system.
IEF developed a prototype for clinic and hospital management called
SightReach® Management. It is an adaptation of the Aravind Eye Care
System in India that combines the best eye care practices with business
planning and management systems. After nine years experience with 12
clinics and hospitals in 8 countries, we see positive results, some of
which are described in this report.
Victoria M. Sheffield
Executive Director
We are passionate about the SightReach® approach and the advances
we can achieve. That is why we will ask for your continued support to
take SightReach Management to 10 more clinics and hospitals by 2012.
We continue to work to eradicate preventable eye diseases such as river
blindness, but cataract is still responsible for half the world’s blindness
and glaucoma, retinal diseases, and refractive error are emerging as the
leading causes of poor vision and loss of sight. Developing countries
require quality eye care to confront these conditions. IEF can help.
We are proud of our 4-star rating from Charity Navigator reflecting
wise use of your gifts to IEF. Thank you for your generous support of
our mission and our programs making it possible for more and more
people in the developing world to save their precious sight.