Giving Compass' Take:

• The international nonprofit, Orbis, is investing in cutting-edge technologies that have revolutionized its telemedicine capabilities and are creating communication between the US and Europe and their counterparts in Asia, Africa, and South America to prevent blindness.  

• What new barriers for blind people are effecting their livelihoods? What role can philanthropy play in removing barriers and creating true access? 

• Here's an article on the latest technology in helping the blind.

For nearly five decades, the international nonprofit Orbis has sought to improve eye care in underserved communities in the developing world. And now, with today’s new technologies, it can offer the best training and access to first-rate ophthalmology to nearly any location on Earth.

Orbis’ latest aircraft, a Boeing MD-10 donated by FedEx in 2016, is a state-of-the-art medical facility featuring AI technology that is able to spot potentially blinding conditions faster than ever before. Its investments in cutting-edge technologies have revolutionized the nonprofit’s telemedicine capabilities by expediting two-way communication between ophthalmologists in the United States and Europe and their counterparts in Asia, Africa, and South America—even without the reliance on the Flying Eye Hospital.

Visual impairment remains a stubborn, yet treatable, problem. Approximately 36 million people worldwide are blind, 89 percent of whom live in low- and middle-income countries. There are simple medical procedures to address the underlying causes; if caught early, they even can be stopped or reversed. More than 200 million people globally suffer from moderate to severe visual impairment, and 80 percent of these cases can be prevented or treated.

Read the full article about helping prevent blindness by Esha Chhabra at Stanford Social Innovation Review.