Sight is teachable: $32 million to train a quarter-million eye-care workers for 18 million people

About 1.1 billion people live with vision loss, and with the right care, 90% of it is avoidable — the piece most often missing is a trained person nearby. Orbis International, the eye-care charity behind the Flying Eye Hospital, has committed an estimated $32 million between 2027 and 2030 to help close that gap, at the first Global Summit for Eye Health, hosted by Antigua and Barbuda with the World Health Organization. About $17 million will strengthen cataract care — cataract is the world's leading cause of blindness, and a short operation can give sight back. About $15 million keeps Cybersight, Orbis's free online classroom for eye teams, running across more than 200 countries and territories. The plan supports training for more than 250,000 eye-care professionals, aims to improve eye health for more than 18 million people, and brings AI-assisted screening for diabetic eye disease into routine diabetes care in Antigua and Barbuda, with a target of reaching 80% of people in diabetes care by 2030.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: funding & finance