Graeme Le Saux in charity special
20 September 2007
Sightsavers ambassador Graeme Le Saux is to broadcast a
special video to celebrate 20 years of the charity's work in
eradicating blindness in Africa.
On October 1, Graeme Le Saux will be online at www.webchats.tv to talk about his
experiences in Kaduna, in Nigeria, where he is monitoring the
progress of Sightsavers' work in fighting river blindness.
In October 1987 the largest ongoing donation programme began,
when Merck & Co chose to provide free treatment for preventing
infection from river blindness with the drug Mectiza.
Sightsavers International has been distributing the medication
and last year alone 11 million adults and three million children
across West Africa were treated with the sight-saving drug.
River blindness is a disease caused by a worm that breeds in
fast-flowing rivers and is the fourth most common cause of
blindness in the world.
While people in the UK have access to eye care, millions of
people in Africa cannot afford treatment. While one million people
are blind or severely visually impaired through river blindness,
Mectiza can prevent infection developing.
The importance of this can not be underestimated. While people
who are affected may be unable to earn a living, children can miss
out on an education, as they are forced to act as carers for blind
adults.
Graeme Le Saux became an ambassador for Sightsavers in 1997 and
since then he has acted as an advocate for the charity in various
campaigns.
He promoted the 2000 campaign ''Kick Blindness out of Africa'',
in an awareness-raising drive and participated in 2006's Treasured
photographic exhibition, by providing a picture of the sight he
would miss most if affected by blindness.
This summer he visited Sightsavers projects in Nigeria to see
how the charity's work is helping to improve the lives of African
families and now speaks of his experiences in an exclusive
video.
"Sightsavers is a fantastic charity which isn't prejudiced
against anyone, and works in many countries around the world,"
Graeme said. "As a professional footballer sight is fundamental,
you have eye tests regularly and it goes without saying really that
your eyes give you the information to make a decision to hit the
ball."
For more information visit www.sightsavers.org or visit
www.webchats.tv on October 1 to see
the footballer talk about his experiences.
More news
© Adfero Ltd
