Noor Dubai foundation

International Awards

Hamdan Award for Volunteers in Humanitarian Medical Services
2013-2014

History

The Noor Dubai Foundation initiative was launched in September 2008 and Noor Dubai was established by law in 2010, with a vision of a world free from avoidable causes of blindness. It provides therapeutic, preventative, and educational programs to treat and prevent blindness and visual impairment in developing countries on a regional and international scale. Noor Dubai Foundation is a non-governmental, non-profit organization that aims to eliminate all types of avoidable blindness and visual impairment worldwide. Its guiding principles stem from believing that “Every individual has the right to sight”. The foundation also believes in a world where medical services are available to all without discrimination, especially those with low-income. Every human being has a right to access health care and to receive assistance to improve living standards.
 

Activities and Achievements

The activates carried out by Noor Dubai Foundation:

1- Education:

1.  Training ophthalmologists in targeted regions at highly-equipped centers.
2.  Training eye specialists in different countries on early detection of eye diseases. The training is directed to physicians, primary care providers, teachers, mothers and students.
3.  Educating women on the importance of eye care in children.
4.  Educating local communities through conferences and seminars as well as social media tools.

2- Prevention:

1. Increasing public awareness about eye health.
2. Investing in regional and global plans for disease eradication such as River Blindness, which is a major cause of blindness in many African countries where half a million people are blind or visually impaired due to this disease.

3- Treatment

1. Providing eye care and disease management through offering consultations, medication, glasses and state of the art surgical setup to those in need.
2. Partnering with well-established NGOs to identify areas of need and provide suitable management.
3. Conducting mobile eye camps in remote areas that lack primary health care services.
4. The diseases tackled by Noor Dubai Foundation include cataract, strabismus, retinal disorders and glaucoma.

The Noor Dubai Foundation envisions a world where all individuals living in low income regions and suffering from visual disabilities have access to eye healthcare and are given equal and fair opportunities of treatment that will improve their quality of life. The latest worldwide estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO) state that over 285 million people are visually impaired. Of those, 39 million are blind and 246 million have low vision. Based on the latest estimates, a child goes blind every minute and an adult every 5 seconds. Visual impairment is unequally distributed across countries, age groups and genders. More than 90% of the world’s visually impaired live in developing countries. Over 90% of blind individuals live in areas with no access to quality eye care at an affordable price.

Although 82% of blind people are over the age of 50, there is prevalence of childhood blindness as well. Over 1.4 Million below the age of 15 are currently blind. Vitamin A Deficiency is a prevalent cause of preventable blindness in children, with an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 children annually becoming blind due to this nutritional deficiency. In every developing country and at all ages, females are at a significantly higher risk of being
visually impaired than men.

Noor Dubai Foundation fights blindness through treatment and education.

Treatment

Mobile Eye Camps: In remote areas, extreme poverty and lack of resources as well as the absence of healthcare infrastructure make it difficult to provide eye care. Mobile eye camps are the only way to reach those people who otherwise are not being served and would go blind. A team of doctors and experts arrive to the area with supplies, surgical tools, microscopes and sometimes even generators. They usually set up in a school or clinic and aim to help thousands during each camp which lasts approximately 10 days.

Noor Dubai Foundation strives to treat the following diseases:

• Cataract, which is the leading cause of blindness in the world. As per the latest estimates; 18 million people suffer from this condition, this represents 48% of the total number of blind people.
• Strabismus affects over 5% of children worldwide and treatments include vision therapy, orthoptics or surgery.
• Retinal Disorders.
• Glaucoma.

Education

It is very important to train local ophthalmologists who will ensure the cost-effectiveness and sustainability of the work in their areas, because one ophthalmologist will be able to provide services to many individuals in the community. By educating primary healthcare workers, teachers and mothers, they will be able to identify early signs that could lead to blindness in children. Hence, educating the community as a whole is an important step in the prevention of global blindness.

Between 2008 and 2013, through its various educational programs, the Foundation has educated 1, 058,522 individuals and treated about 1,126,977 people and prevented about 4 million cases of River blindness. Through its Trachoma Control Program, it hopes to eliminate Trachoma for about 18 million people in Ethiopia by 2017.

Considering the highly admirable work performed by Noor Dubai in developing countries and the significant impact it is having on people; Noor Dubai Foundation deserves the Hamdan Award for Volunteers in Humanitarian Medical Services for the term 2013-2014.