There are 285 million people in the world with impaired vision, 90% of whom live in the developing world.

Much of this is solvable. A ten-minute procedure requiring no electricity or machinery can restore the eyesight of those who have cataracts - a debilitating but common clouding of the eye's lens - enabling them to see clearly for the first time in years.

Himalayan Cataract Project enables free and low-cost cataract surgery to people around the world. They treat patients and train doctors. 

The entire process, from screening patients through completion of the surgery, can take under an hour. And it costs only $20 USD. Doctors make a very small cut, remove the affected lens, and insert a manufactured replacement. The incision is so tiny that it doesn’t even require stitches. Patients can remove their eyepatches the next day and 80% see well enough to pass the eye exam for U.S. drivers.

Your $1 can buy the replacement lens for a person's eye. A donation of $20 can fully fund a person's cataract surgery. 

Local doctors and nurses in locations like Nepal, Bhutan, Rwanda, Nigeria, and Mali receive training at HCP’s facilities in Kathmandu, Nepal; the U.S.; and a new facility opening in May in Kumasi, Ghana. 

In 2011 alone, HCP trained 20 doctors and made possible more than 29,000 eyesight-restoring surgeries around the world. 45% percent of patients are able to pay the for surgery, subsidizing the 35% who receive care for free.

HCP’s accomplishments are made possible by the work of co-founders Sanduk Ruit and Geoff Tabin. Dr. Ruit opened the Himalayan region’s first outpatient cataract surgery center in 1994 and, soon after, opened a factory to locally produce replacement lenses. By dropping the cost per lens from $100 to about $1, Dr. Ruit enabled large-scale, low-cost cataract surgery.

“Our doctors met a lot of local doctors interested in learning the small-incision cataract method,” Pamela Clapp says, and that’s why HCP’s “main focus is on training.” By training doctors and building infrastructure, HCP’s efforts can self-replicate among eyecare professionals on the ground in each location. The group’s success in its original Himalayan locations is what enabled HCP to branch out into Sub-Saharan Africa, train doctors from North Korea, and continue to expand into the developing world.

- Caroline Delbert