BBC Radio 4 appeal raises £28,689 to save sight

A huge thank you to everyone who supported our BBC Radio 4 Appeal in February, presented by Gyles Brandreth, which raised an incredible £28,689.

Your support will help us deliver sight-saving eye health services in the world’s poorest places, enabling local hospitals and health workers to prevent blindness and restore sight to people living needlessly blind. 

In our appeal, author, broadcaster and long-time CBM supporter Gyles Brandreth shared the story of 7-year-old Memory from Malawi. When Memory lost her sight to cataracts, she stopped going to school. Cataracts can be treated with straightforward surgery – but for Memory’s family living in rural Malawi, treatment was out of reach. Thanks to supporters like you, her cataracts were diagnosed at an outreach clinic and successfully treated. Now she can see, she can go back to school.

Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness worldwide, causing around half of all blindness.  Sight-restoring cataract surgery can cost just £24 for an adult, or £95 for a child under general anaesthetic. But without access to treatment, people become needlessly blind. If you live in poverty, losing your sight also often means losing the chance to go to school, earn a living or live independently.

Your support for the BBC Radio 4 Appeal will help CBM to prevent blindness and restore sight in the world’s poorest communities by:

• enabling adults and children to access sight-restoring cataract surgery
• supporting screening programmes and training local health workers to ensure cataracts are diagnosed and treated promptly
• training and equipping specialist doctors, nurses and other health workers, especially in rural areas where services are scarce

Together we can build a world where nobody is needlessly blind.

Photo: Shalom, 5, is happy to be back at school, after cataract surgery and wearing her new glasses.