The Problem of Blindness

Blindman and Child Guide

million people live in the darkness of blindness throughout the world and over half of this blindness is preventable. Some of the world's children suffer in disproportionate numbers not only from the catastrophes of famine but also from nutritional blindness linked to lack of vitamin A.Here is the USA over 1 million Americans suffer from blindness or impaired vision and the poor and the homeless suffer the highest rates. School children from disadvantaged communities do not always receive the eyeglasses, which could brighten their vision and enlighten their minds.

Prevent blindness through health education and primary eye care in the community, by the community, and, for the community.

AiPB Director, Dr. Donna Johnson examines a patient in her office. Her decades of commitment to quality care and equal care to both poor and rich exemplifies the AiPB mission.

Public Health Education

ommunity Ophthalmology was created and developed as a new discipline of medicine as a direct result of research conducted by AiPB directors. The Ophthalmic Assistant Training Program was established at major universities to educate and train support personnel in the fundamentals of primary eye care.

Research and the Public Health Sector

esearch done by AiPB directors in the 1970's revealed that African-Americans suffer twice the risk of blindness compared to white Americans and are 8 times more likely to be blinded by Glaucoma. This pioneering research has been confirmed by major universities and led to national interventional initiatives such as Glaucoma 2000.

Community Outreach

Screening at Headstart and Senior Citizen Clubs

ith a team of enthusiastic volunteers Free Vision Screening Clinics for sight threatening conditions such as Cataract, Glaucoma, Macular Degeneration and Strabismus have been conducted in the Los Angeles area. Children at Headstart Centers have benefited from the free screening clinics, which have detected conditions such as Amblyopia, Strabismus, and simply the need for eyeglasses in order to see and learn at school.

Give a Child the Gift of Sight

International Blindness
Prevention Initiatives

irectors of the AiPB have consulted with government agencies in the USA and abroad to provide needed expertise in the area of Blindness Prevention Program Development. Expert technical personnel have traveled worldwide to provide education and training to health care professionals. With the cooperation of private industry in the USA, desperately needed eye equipment and supplies have been donated to countries in Africa, Asia, and the South American Caribbean Diaspora.

GOALS

To achieve the eradication of all preventable blindness by the year 2020.
To insure that all children have all visual needs met, including eyeglasses.
To assist blind children achieve their best by special educational resources.
To establish the World Eye Institute for the research and treatment of blinding eye
Diseases, with clinic facilities open to the blind of all nations on an equalitarian basis

Mission of the AiPB

The AiPB was established in 1976 as a non-profit organization dedicated to the prevention of blindness through programs designed to PROTECT, PRESERVE, and RESTORE the Gift of Sight. We are founded on the principle that EYESIGHT IS A BASIC HUMAN RIGHT and that PRIMARY EYE CARE must be a component of Basic Health Services provided free if necessary for all humankind.

United Giving to Protect, Preserve, and Restore the Gift of Sight

Gift of Sight

Founder and President Dr. Patricia E. Bath has traveled worldwide and given the gift of sight to the so called "hopelessly blind" through high tech eye surgery such as the artificial corneal transplant, the Keratoprosthesis.