China's ever-increasing blind population equates to 18% of the world's blind population and surpasses the total population of countries such as Denmark, Finland and Norway.

Latest information shows:

• China has 6.6 million blind people
• There are 2.5 million people with cataract blindness
• There are 400,000 new cases of cataract blindness each year

In Jiangxi Province where our work is concentrated, almost 20 percent of its population of 44 million people are aged 50 years and over. And China's ageing population means that by 2020, that number is expected to double - and bring with it the risk of an escalation in cataract blindness.

A large part of The Foundation's groundbreaking work in China has been building expertise, experience and capacity among local health professionals. For example, we have helped relieve surgeons of the demands of pre- and post-operative care by training more nurses. That means surgeons can get on with what they do best - bringing hope to more people by performing high volume cataract surgery.

Find out about the China program.

Through our program work in China, The Foundation:

• Screened 53,998 people
  
  
• Performed 53,118 sight saving interventions, including 28,471 cataract surgeries
  
  
• Trained 1,075 eye health personnel
  
  
• Received reports of highly regarded Foundation-trained surgeons and staff participating in the Jiangxi Provincial Cataract Free Province Initiative - the largest initiative of its kind in China, aiming to eliminate 80% of all cataracts in the province by mid 2010
  
  
• Continued to support the largest screening program for Diabetic Retinopathy in China
  
  
• Provided $82,589 in equipment and infrastructure to support training and disease control
  
  
• Strengthened relationship with National Ministry of Health - subsequently the only NGO invited to attend the National Government conference to draft the next 5 year Chinese National VISION 2020 Plan.