APEX, ORBIS Join Hands to Fight against Blindness
Did you know today more than 45 million men, women and children are blind? The real tragedy of this global health crisis is that more than 80 percent are suffering needlessly. With proper diagnosis or medical or surgical treatment, their blindness could have been prevented or their sight restored.
The Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX), formerly the World Airline Entertainment Association, has announced the creation of a philanthropic partnership with ORBIS International in the fight to eliminate preventable blindness throughout the world.
The new partnership with APEX, which represents over 400 of the world’s leading airlines, will help ORBIS expand its reach to prevent and treat blindness by providing quality eye care to transform lives.
“All of us at ORBIS are really excited to be working with APEX member companies to promote our cause and support our partner hospitals in providing much-needed eye care services to communities throughout the developing world,” said Jack McHale, president and CEO of ORBIS International.
Onboard its Flying Eye Hospital, ORBIS provides training sessions during which ophthalmologists, nurses and anesthesiologists from developing nations work with ORBIS volunteers to perform surgery, learn new skills and restore sight.
In the last year alone, according to ORBIS, it supported its partners in providing medical treatment to more than 2,135,000 patients and trained over 24,326 medical professionals.
Photo courtesy: ORBIS
