On World Sight Day, 8 October, Mieru teams and the teachers they have trained tested the eyes of 61,480 children in 236 schools across Nepal and Bangladesh, the largest single day in the programme’s history.
Of the children screened, 3,907 needed spectacles. All received them before the end of the following week, made in local workshops and delivered to their schools. A further 498 were referred to hospital for conditions spectacles cannot fix.
“World Sight Day is a good day for a big number,” said Prakash Shrestha, who leads Mieru. “But the number we will report next January is the one that matters: how many of those children are still wearing their spectacles three months later.” Across the programme last year, that share was 58%.
The Foundation does not fundraise on World Sight Day or any other day. We mark it by doing the work.