Staff at Johnson & Johnson Vision Care ANZ have successfully raised more than AUD$4,000 to provide vision screening services for children in West Bengal.
More than one million children in the country have received access to eye screening since 2002 thanks to the global initiative, which was established by Johnson & Johnson Vision Care in partnership with Lions Club International.
There are eight Sight for Kids programs covering different areas in Asia- Pacific: Thailand, West Bengal India, Hyderabad India, Kerala India, Vietnam, Beijing China, Philippines, Sri Lanka.
To raise the funds in Australia, Vision Care employees organised several activities including participating in the Sydney City to Surf fun run, a company raffle, employee eye screening and the sale of Lions Christmas Puddings to employees.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that half of the estimated 1.5 million blind children worldwide live in Asia. However, more than 50 per cent of childhood blindness is needless; it can be prevented or treated with low-cost and very effective interventions provided by organisations such as Sight for Kids.