Context

In developing countries in Asia, eye care is not accessible to all. According to the WHO, there is a high prevalence of visual deficiency in developing countries with a low per capita income. Shortages and inequality in terms of access to prevention and eye care is putting the brakes on the reduction of visual deficiency in the most populated and the most impoverished areas. It is essential that medical teaching of the highest level be established in developing countries, new treatment strategies developped and effective global communication implemented.1


1https://www.who.int/blindness/economy/fr/

 

Supported projects

In 2018, the L’OCCITANE Foundation and L’OCCITANE Japan supported the Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine. Funding enabled the University's Ophthalmology Department to organise the 2019 edition of the Annual Japanese Cornea Conference. This event gathered together young ophthalmologists from around the world who participate in a specialist training programme focusing on regenerative medicine and the most recent treatments for diseases associated with the cornea.

This gathering allowed them to discover new cutting edge techniques, thus contributing to expanding global knowledge and to effectively preventing blindness in developing countries in Asia. Thanks to the training of 25 ophthalmologists, 17,600 people received eye care by 2020.

Some figures

The main objective of this programme was the prevention of blindness in developing Asian countries through the development of high-level medical education. As a result, more people living in developing Asian countries benefited from eye care. Through the training of 22 ophthalmologists, 20,000 people received eye care by 2020.

Budget 40.000 euros

Results 17.600 beneficiaries