Standard Chartered said it has reached the goal it set in 2011 to raise $100 million for the fight against avoidable blindness and visual impairment. The goal has been reached two years ahead of the bank’s 2020 target date. The news was shared with employees, clients and charity partners at an event at the British Museum to mark 15 years of Seeing is Believing (SiB), Standard Chartered’s global partnership with the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) to tackle avoidable blindness and visual impairment. The money raised through SiB has reached more than 167 million people through medical interventions, eye examinations, and eye health education and training. The initiative has funded 184 eye health projects in 37 countries, supported 4.4 million sight-restoring surgeries and trained more than 318,000 health workers. India is one of the most important markets for the SiB program having made a significant and tangible impact in fighting avoidable blindness. Since 2003, SiB in India has supported 1.7 million sight-restoring surgeries and trained more than 15,000 health workers through our presence across 22 states. India has also delivered the maximum number of SiB projects (19) across the Group. More than $14 million has been invested to build SiB as a holistic eye health delivery ecosystem in India.
