Newsletter

October 2011

Dear Lion,

This month we celebrate Lions World Sight Day and our commitment to saving sight around the world. This month I am also happy to share with you a new health initiative.

I am sure you have heard of the deadly disease measles. The terrible truth is that 450 children die each day from this disease. You may not know that a devastating complication from this disease is blindness. This is just another reason that as Lions we join the fight to stop this disease to save lives and prevent childhood blindness.

Last year we joined the Measles Initiative, a collaborative effort of several leading organizations to eliminate measles. In less than 10 years, this August, the 1 billionth child was vaccinated through this initiative. While measles has been reduced by 78 percent since 2001, the World Health Organization estimates that decreasing support could result in 500,000 more deaths each year if the present progress rolls back to pre-2000 levels.

Our pilot year was a great success! Lions and our partners vaccinated 41 million children in four countries. Now we must expand these efforts to reach even more children in more countries. In a survey of Lions members, 90 percent expressed the desire to continue this program.

This is now possible thanks to a commitment by our partner, the Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation is awarding us US$5 million for the program this year, the largest single donation in our history. The Gates Foundation will do this by matching every US$2 that we raise with US$1. We have set a combined goal of providing U$15 million toward this initiative.

I ask that you encourage your club and district to get involved. Please help us to meet our goal of providing US$15 million for the Lions' Measles program this year. You can support this program at www.lcif.org/donate or learn more online. Your donation is MJF eligible.

Serving today for a better tomorrow,

Sid L. Scruggs, III

Chairperson, Lions Clubs International Foundation

SightFirst II Making an Impact in South Asia

Lions helped to raise more than US$200 million during Campaign SightFirst II. These funds are already having a great impact around the world, including in South Asia. To date, in South Asia the program has helped to fund 112 projects totaling US$16.9 million. Grant funds have been awarded to upgrade or expand 72 clinics and hospitals, provide 496,200 cataract surgeries, and train 96 midlevel ophthalmic personnel. In addition, one state-of-the-art comprehensive eye hospital will be constructed and equipped, and one comprehensive, multiple district diabetic retinopathy program, including equipment purchases and training for seven Lions eye hospitals, has been completed. In upcoming enewsletters, each region of the world will be highlighted.

LCIF Awards Grants

At the recent International Board of Directors meeting in Hong Kong, China, 55 grants were awarded totaling US$4.09 million, benefiting 915,778 individuals. This includes US$1.19 million for the Lions Clubs International-Special Olympics Opening Eyes program. These grants will enable Lions to have a great impact in their communities.

Lions Hold Seventh MalTra Week
The 7th MalTra week will be held November 5-12 in Ethiopia. Aimed at preventing malaria and trachoma, MalTra week is held twice annually. During the 5th MALTRA week in November 2010 more than 10 million people in Amhara state were given the drug Zithromax®. Amhara is the most endemic area in the world for trachoma.

River Blindness Eliminated in Colombia

Since 2004, SightFirst has been a contributing partner in the Onchocerciasis Elimination Program of the Americas, which works to end the illness and transmission of onchocerciasis (or river blindness) in Latin America. As a result of health education and Mectizan® distribution, there has been no new blindness from onchocerciasis in these areas. The World Health Organization (WHO) will announce the elimination of onchocerciasis in Colombia at the Inter-American Conference of Onchocerciasis in November, making Colombia the first country to receive such certification.