Our mission is to provide funding for the delivery of sustainable surgery for the most needy peoples of the developing world who suffer from cataract blindness.
Our focus is currently treating patients who live in the foothills of the Himalayan mountains in Nepal.
The Ridley Eye Foundation (REF) provides funding to solve cataract blindness, through small incision surgery, for those of modest financial means in this part of the Developing World
We have spent many years supporting and teaching cataract surgery in many parts of the world including, more recently, Yemen, Egypt and India. The Ridley Eye Foundation (REF) now provides funds in Nepal for locally organised medical camps to deliver small incision cataract surgery in remote areas above 2000m (6,500 ft) of the Himalayan mountains. The initial geographic focus of this work is in Nepal. We have already established REF Nepal to facilitate delivery and funding of these objectives.
Objectives
Having previously provided support to ophthalmic centres in many parts of the world and, more recently, Yemen, Egypt, and India, the Ridley Eye Foundation is now seeking to work in Nepal where our criteria are: relative political stability; an increasingly developed medical infrastructure; reliable epidemiological research; but with limited resource and capacity to service the remote regions of Nepal where the incidence of blindness is increasing.
The Covid-19 pandemic has seriously impacted the timeline and the implementation of this strategy. Nevertheless, we are currently funding cataract surgery in Community Clinics in the Kathmandu Valley and the North East Highlands.
Where it began
90
projects complete
75
of preventable blindness in Nepal is due to cataracts
24
of patients in Nepal refuse surgery due to cost