Research grants to fund initiatives to prevent vision loss in children

Rochester, NY-The Lumbini Eye Institute and the Calabar Teaching Hospital have received $50,000 research grants from the Pediatric Cataract Initiative, a partnership of the Bausch + Lomb Early Vision Institute and Lions Clubs International Foundation that aims to prevent vision loss in children.

The Lumbini Eye Institute will use the funds to study the cost and clinical effectiveness of a comprehensive pediatric cataract surgery follow-up system in western Nepal and adjacent northern Indian states. The outcomes could have a wide-ranging effect on follow-up regimens in developing nations worldwide.

The Calabar Teaching Hospital will investigate the burden and causes of severe visual impairment and blindness among children in the Cross River State of Nigeria in what is believed to be the first large-scale study of the root causes of childhood blindness in Africa.

The inaugural small research grant application process was open to clinicians and researchers around the world. Members of the Pediatric Cataract Initiative Global Advisory Council, which consists of eye health experts from around the world, met in December to review 16 applications from countries including India, Cameroon, Nigeria, Nepal, Guatemala, Kenya, the United States, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere.

The initiative expects to announce a major prevention and treatment grant for a Chinese institution soon.