Every five seconds, someone in the world loses their ability to see. A child goes blind every minute. Perhaps the more important statistic, however, is that 80% of the world’s blind people could see again if they had access to adequate eye care services. In Nepal, there are an estimated 13,500 blind children with roughly 3,300 children blind from cataracts alone. Tragically, the rural poorlack access to affordable eye care that could prevent blindness.

SEVA Foundation provides blind persons with improved outreach, inexpensive medication, and surgery through an eye care program. This program enables approximately four million Nepalis to access eye care through 14 rural vision centers and three eye hospitals in the remote Himalayas. In the past year, 69,000 children received eye exams, and 1,700 blind children received cataract surgery.