Project launched to help 10,000 visually impaired children

AMMAN — Under the patronage of HH Prince Mired, President of the Higher Council for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (HCD), a project for enhancing paediatric vision care in Jordan’s schools and communities was launched on Thursday. 

The project aims to serve children in Irbid, Zarqa and Karak Governorates and is supported by the Australian Fred Hollows Foundation.

HCD Secretary-General Muhannad Al Azzeh said that the project will support the participation of visually impaired children in their educational journey and in various facets of life, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

Ian Wishart, CEO of the Fred Hollows Foundation, emphasised that this shared commitment aims to eliminate avoidable blindness, as 90 per cent of causes of vision loss can be addressed through cost-effective, high-impact programmes. 

The objective of the project is to address the occurrence of refractive errors, which are a common cause of visual impairment among refugees and marginalised Jordanian children, he said.

The three-year project will focus on providing treatment for approximately 10,000 refugee and local children affected by uncorrected refractive errors, minimising the risk for further visual impairment.