Combat Blindness Foundation
“To see is to believe”
“To see is to believe”
To date, CBF has sponsored over 2,300 eye screening projects, screened over 600,000 patients, funded over 120,000 free cataract surgeries,
and treated thousands of children afflicted by Vitamin A deficiency.
A major factor in CBF’s success is its many collaborations. CBF partners with UW-Madison and other organizations to send U.S. doctors
abroad to perform cataract surgery. CBF also works to create sustainable eye healthcare centers in countries that drastically need them.
“We want to develop facilities that perform these surgeries that are sustainable in three to five years,” Chandra said.
CBF has collaborated with numerous facilities in India, a country that Chandra says is plagued by a third of the world’s blindness, to
develop more accessible eye care for afflicted patients. In 2007, CBF partnered with the Tarabai Desai Eye Hospital and Research Centre to
establish the CBF Community Outreach Center in the Jodhpur region. They created mobile units, which screened 20,904 patients, and CBF
sponsored 1,000 of the 2,269 free cataract surgeries performed at local facilities. Likewise, CBF has partnered with numerous other facilities,
both in India and other developing countries, to provide screening and care for afflicted patients. CBF has also gone a step further by
supporting the building of Aurolab, an intraocular lenses and suture factory in Madurai, India.
“When we started in 1984, the technology was not that great,” Chandra explained. “The new technology is where you put the intraocular
lenses inside the eye. These lenses used to be very expensive. At Aurolab, we make them for two dollars.”
Improved technology and reduced costs help make treatment possible for thousands more. Yet, Aurolab also plays a vital role in bringing
jobs to a region where jobs are needed.
“Part of our work is helping people within their own country start up facilities,” CBF program manager Melissa Witte said. “With all of the
projects we do, all of the human resources come from inside the country, so that we can provide jobs.”
While CBF is making a difference globally, they also are working locally to serve the uninsured and disadvantaged populations in the
Madison area. Together with the University Station Eye Clinic and UW-Madison’s Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, they
conduct a free community eye care clinic each month. In 2007, 62 patients were examined; 48 were given eyeglasses donated by Styleeyes
Optical at UW Health and 12 received free laser surgery or other surgical intervention at UW Hospitals and Clinics. Chandra performed the
first free surgery.
Madisonians can get involved with CBF every fall by taking part in CBF’s Annual 5K Sight Walk. In 2007, CBF raised $25,000 and this
fall, they had 250 walkers hit the street to raise money and awareness. Proceeds from the walk help fund free cataract surgeries and the UW
Health Free Community Eye Care Clinic.
For Chandra, CBF’s work is most rewarding after he speaks with the patients who have regained their sight.
“They are so grateful,” he said. “Many of them have not seen their grandchildren. They couldn’t even conduct their daily work. After the
surgery, they become very productive members of their community. You are changing their life. That is the remarkable thing.”
For more information on CBF, visit www.combatblindness.org.
and treated thousands of children afflicted by Vitamin A deficiency.
A major factor in CBF’s success is its many collaborations. CBF partners with UW-Madison and other organizations to send U.S. doctors
abroad to perform cataract surgery. CBF also works to create sustainable eye healthcare centers in countries that drastically need them.
“We want to develop facilities that perform these surgeries that are sustainable in three to five years,” Chandra said.
CBF has collaborated with numerous facilities in India, a country that Chandra says is plagued by a third of the world’s blindness, to
develop more accessible eye care for afflicted patients. In 2007, CBF partnered with the Tarabai Desai Eye Hospital and Research Centre to
establish the CBF Community Outreach Center in the Jodhpur region. They created mobile units, which screened 20,904 patients, and CBF
sponsored 1,000 of the 2,269 free cataract surgeries performed at local facilities. Likewise, CBF has partnered with numerous other facilities,
both in India and other developing countries, to provide screening and care for afflicted patients. CBF has also gone a step further by
supporting the building of Aurolab, an intraocular lenses and suture factory in Madurai, India.
“When we started in 1984, the technology was not that great,” Chandra explained. “The new technology is where you put the intraocular
lenses inside the eye. These lenses used to be very expensive. At Aurolab, we make them for two dollars.”
Improved technology and reduced costs help make treatment possible for thousands more. Yet, Aurolab also plays a vital role in bringing
jobs to a region where jobs are needed.
“Part of our work is helping people within their own country start up facilities,” CBF program manager Melissa Witte said. “With all of the
projects we do, all of the human resources come from inside the country, so that we can provide jobs.”
While CBF is making a difference globally, they also are working locally to serve the uninsured and disadvantaged populations in the
Madison area. Together with the University Station Eye Clinic and UW-Madison’s Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, they
conduct a free community eye care clinic each month. In 2007, 62 patients were examined; 48 were given eyeglasses donated by Styleeyes
Optical at UW Health and 12 received free laser surgery or other surgical intervention at UW Hospitals and Clinics. Chandra performed the
first free surgery.
Madisonians can get involved with CBF every fall by taking part in CBF’s Annual 5K Sight Walk. In 2007, CBF raised $25,000 and this
fall, they had 250 walkers hit the street to raise money and awareness. Proceeds from the walk help fund free cataract surgeries and the UW
Health Free Community Eye Care Clinic.
For Chandra, CBF’s work is most rewarding after he speaks with the patients who have regained their sight.
“They are so grateful,” he said. “Many of them have not seen their grandchildren. They couldn’t even conduct their daily work. After the
surgery, they become very productive members of their community. You are changing their life. That is the remarkable thing.”
For more information on CBF, visit www.combatblindness.org.
Combat Blindness
Foundation founder, Dr.
Suresh Chandra
Foundation founder, Dr.
Suresh Chandra
by Laura Salinger
For over 20 years, the Combat Blindness Foundation (CBF) has been giving what could arguably be
considered one of the best gifts around: the gift of sight.
Blindness drastically reduces the quality of life for 37 million afflicted people worldwide. Surprisingly, over
half of all blindness cases, approximately 26 million, are curable and preventable with very inexpensive
interventions. Yet, millions continue to live without sight.
It is CBF’s mission to cure and prevent as many cases of preventable blindness as they can. Founded in 1984
by Dr. Suresh Chandra, a professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Wisconsin School
of Medicine and Public Health, CBF has made tremendous inroads in curing and preventing blindness in
developing countries; namely India, Kenya, South Africa, Vietnam and the Philippines.
The most common causes of blindness — cataracts and Vitamin A deficiency in children — are also the easiest
to cure or prevent. That is precisely why, after graduating from medical school in India and concluding a
fellowship at Harvard, Dr. Chandra switched the focus of his volunteer service from retinal detachment
procedures (his specialty, but a much more expensive procedure treating a much less common problem) to
cataract surgery.
“Cataracts are the most common cause of blindness in developing countries,” Chandra said. “Cataract
surgery is a 20-minute surgery and patients are able to see the next day. Cataract surgery costs only $20.”
For over 20 years, the Combat Blindness Foundation (CBF) has been giving what could arguably be
considered one of the best gifts around: the gift of sight.
Blindness drastically reduces the quality of life for 37 million afflicted people worldwide. Surprisingly, over
half of all blindness cases, approximately 26 million, are curable and preventable with very inexpensive
interventions. Yet, millions continue to live without sight.
It is CBF’s mission to cure and prevent as many cases of preventable blindness as they can. Founded in 1984
by Dr. Suresh Chandra, a professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Wisconsin School
of Medicine and Public Health, CBF has made tremendous inroads in curing and preventing blindness in
developing countries; namely India, Kenya, South Africa, Vietnam and the Philippines.
The most common causes of blindness — cataracts and Vitamin A deficiency in children — are also the easiest
to cure or prevent. That is precisely why, after graduating from medical school in India and concluding a
fellowship at Harvard, Dr. Chandra switched the focus of his volunteer service from retinal detachment
procedures (his specialty, but a much more expensive procedure treating a much less common problem) to
cataract surgery.
“Cataracts are the most common cause of blindness in developing countries,” Chandra said. “Cataract
surgery is a 20-minute surgery and patients are able to see the next day. Cataract surgery costs only $20.”
Laura Salinger is a
freelance writer
based in Madison,
Wis.
freelance writer
based in Madison,
Wis.