June is National Cataract Awareness Month

In honor of Cataract Awareness Month, two long-time HCP donors have provided the opportunity to match every gift made up to $15,000! Join us the week of June 17-21 to double your impact as we raise funds for 600 sight-restoring cataract surgeries. This is a special opportunity to have your generosity go even further for people striving to overcome needless blindness.

In 2013, U.S. nonprofit, Prevent Blindness declared June Cataract Awareness Month in order to educate the public and promote preventative measures. We believe that by educating people in the U.S. about cataracts and how to prevent and cure avoidable blindness, we’ll be one step closer to our goal of curing needless blindness with the highest quality care at the lowest cost.

In the United States, cataracts are a leading cause of blindness among older adults with more than half of all Americans diagnosed by age 80, according to Prevent Blindness’ website. Furthermore, the National Eye Institute states, “by 2050, the number of people in the U.S. with cataract is expected to double from 24.4 million to about 50 million.” Worldwide, cataracts are the leading cause of blindness, according to the World Health Organization.

Eye care remains one of the greatest health challenges of our time but also one that we can overcome. We celebrate the month of June as a reminder of how powerful our collective impact is and as a time to thank you for supporting our mission to deliver cataract care to underserved, needlessly blind people in the developing world.