OpenEyes Foundation Joins Forces With The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust And Partners In The Fight Against Avoidable Blindness

London, UK, ( OpenEyes) Monday 10 March 2014-The OpenEyes Foundation is today delighted to be named as one of 11 expert institutions from across the Commonwealth who have come together for the first time as the Commonwealth Eye Health Consortium, thanks to a £7.1 million grant from The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust.).

Coordinated by the International Centre for Eye Health at the London School of Tropical Medicine, the Consortium will pursue vital research into conditions such as diabetic retinopathy which leave millions without sight, and will build capacity across the Commonwealth to tackle avoidable blindness and provide quality care to those affected or at risk.

Worldwide there are 285 million visually impaired people, of whom 39 million are blind. Yet 80% of blindness and visual impairment is curable or treatable.

Good quality eye care is a scarce resource for millions of people across the globe, including in many Commonwealth countries.

Announced on Commonwealth Day 2014, this major grant by The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust will support the newly created Commonwealth Eye Health Consortium to deliver an integrated programme of fellowships, research and technology.

As one of the Consortium’s highly respected eye health organisations and academic institutions, the OpenEyes Foundation will work with others to deliver the programme, which will help strengthen health systems to prevent blindness and make high quality eye care available to all.

The programme delivered by the OpenEyes Foundation and the Consortium will support:

People: strengthening capacity to deliver eye care, through training and information sharing, including Public Health for Eye Care Fellowships, Masters courses, clinical fellowships and a Commonwealth-wide diabetic retinopathy team training network;

Knowledge: deepening understanding of avoidable blindness and approaches to tackling it, through research fellowships;

Tools: development and roll out of technology such as the Portable Eye Examination Kit (Peek) system which will help identify and diagnose eye problems in any setting using only a smartphone; and OpenEyes, an electronic patient record system to replace inefficient and unreliable paper systems.  These have the potential to bring about a revolution in affordable eye care.

Bill Aylward, OpenEyes Project Director said:

“We are delighted to receive The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust. OpenEyes is an open source and licence free initiative and therefore an ideal fit for the purposes of the Trust. The grant will allow us to develop the software further and make it available on a wide range of devices from laptops to mobile phones, as well as integrating with PEEK. It will also allow us to install OpenEyes in a large number of ophthalmic units and hospitals across the commonwealth, improving data quality and consequentially enhancing patient care and enabling clinical research.”

Professor Sir Peng Tee Khaw of Moorfields Eye Hospital and the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology said:

“Good eye health is vital in keeping people independent and ensuring their quality of life, so we are thrilled to be working with other leading institutions to share our knowledge and expertise across the globe. Together, we have the capacity to make a real difference to the millions of people worldwide with visual impairments.”

Sir John Major, Chairman of The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust, said:

“I am delighted that The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust is able to fund this important programme. With the invaluable and diverse talents of so many specialists – from all around the Commonwealth – we can, together, lead the fight against avoidable blindness worldwide.”

Dr Matthew Burton, ophthalmologist and senior lecturer at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said:

“We are very pleased to be working with The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust. Blindness is devastating for millions of people yet so much of it could be cured or prevented. This funding will enable organisations and individuals to team up through the Commonwealth Eye Health Consortium and overcome some of the obstacles blocking access to eye care.”

Colin Cook, Head of the Division of Ophthalmology of the University of Cape Town, South Africa, said:

“We are very grateful to The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust for its support towards eye care and the elimination of avoidable blindness in the Commonwealth. The African saying is “How do you eat an elephant?” to which the answer is “one mouthful at a time, piece by piece, and with a lot of help from your friends”. This initiative is a wonderful illustration of this teamwork, and we are grateful for the opportunity to participate as members of that team.”

Notes to editors

For more information about the Consortium, please contact the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Press Office on 020 7927 2802 or [email protected].

For further information about The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust, please contact Effie Blythe on 07792 705384 or [email protected]

About The OpenEyes Foundation
The OpenEyes Foundation is a not-for-profit charity which has been set up to ensure that the future development of OpenEyes continues to meet the very highest clinical standards. It is leads the promotion of OpenEyes, the software and its solutions, whilst channelling any revenue and income back into the product.
www.openeyes.org.uk

About The Commonwealth Eye Health Consortium
The Commonwealth Eye Health Consortium is a group of regional eye-health organisations, training and academic institutions from several Commonwealth countries, which brings together a range of complementary skills and capacity to deliver an integrated 5-year programme of fellowships, research and technology in three priority eye diseases: trachoma, diabetic retinopathy and retinopathy of prematurity.

Funded by The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust, and co-ordinated by the International Centre for Eye Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, it aims to achieve a major long-term impact in strengthening eye health systems and improve quality of eye care for many people throughout the Commonwealth.

Its members are:

• International Centre for Eye Health (ICEH)
• College of Ophthalmology of Eastern, Central and Southern Africa (COECSA)
• Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO)
• Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCOphth)
• West African College of Surgeons (WACS)
• Aravind Eye Hospital (AEH)
• University of Cape Town (UCT)
• Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA)
• Moorfields Eye Hospital (MEH)
• LV Prasad Eye Institute (LVP)
• Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC)

Website: http://cehc.lshtm.ac.uk/

About The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust
The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust is a charitable foundation established in 2012 to mark and celebrate Her Majesty The Queen’s 60-year contribution to the Commonwealth.
The Trust has received donations from governments, corporate partners, trusts, foundations, community groups and individuals from across the Commonwealth. Its mission is to enrich the lives of people from all backgrounds within the Commonwealth, and its programmes work in alliance towards eliminating avoidable blindness and to empower a new generation of young leaders.
With a five-year timeframe in which to deliver successful programmes, the Trust’s aim is to leave a lasting legacy, owned by the whole Commonwealth, to honour Her Majesty The Queen.
www.jubileetribute.org

About the International Centre for Eye Health
The International Centre for Eye Health’s (ICEH) mission is to improve eye health worldwide; working in partnership to achieve excellence in eye health research, education and translation of knowledge, with a focus on low and middle income countries. It aims to do this through the development of policy; providing evidence for programme planning and advocacy; sensitising key stake holders and professionals; developing and building capacity through our links programme; working with and supporting young researchers and developing partnerships for research and by training leaders in the prevention of blindness.
www.iceh.org.uk/display/WEB/Home

About the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is a world-leading centre for research and postgraduate education in public and global health, with 3,900 students and more than 1,000 staff working in over 100 countries. The School is one of the highest-rated research institutions in the UK, and was recently cited as the world’s leading research-focused graduate school. Its mission is to improve health and health equity in the UK and worldwide; working in partnership to achieve excellence in public and global health research, education and translation of knowledge into policy and practice.
www.lshtm.ac.uk