Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed al-Maktoum announced that he will fund treatment that will save one million people from blindness.
The Sheikh, who is also vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is part, did not put a price tag on his drive, made the announcement on the third day of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan which is marked by a surge of charity in the oil-rich Gulf region.
“Noor Dubai” (Arabic for ‘Light of Dubai’) aims to “deliver preventive eye care to over one million people as part of its drive to realise its vision of a world free from curable forms of blindness,” Sheikh Mohammad said in a speech read on his behalf at the launch of his plan.
Unlike charities last year – and others started by royals - this effort will be bankrolled by Dubai’s ruler, who was estimated by Forbes magazine this year to be worth 18 billion dollars.
“In addition to the UAE, Noor Dubai will reach out to people in … Iraq, Afghanistan, Mali, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Egypt, Jordan and Palestine,” a statement released during the launch said.
Noor Dubai ”aims to help the World Health Organisation and International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness in achieving their goals outlined in Vision 2020: the Right to Sight,” the statement said.
This plan will help people suffering from three major eye diseases — cataract, which is the leading cause of blindness in the world affecting 18 million people representing 48 percent of the total number of blind people; strabismus that affects over five percent of children worldwide; and corneal opacities which is responsible for the blindness of 4.9 million people.
Noor Dubai will work closely with two major organizations: Lions Club International and ORBIS International. The latter is known for its “flying eye hospital” in which it treats eye disease on board a jet.
“Australian and Danish researchers have a long shared a common bond of excellence in biomedical research,” she said.
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