The UK government has announced it will only invest one percent of grant funding in eye research – despite 20 percent of the population experiencing serious sight loss or blindness in their lifetime. In response, Fight for Sight has joined forces with 12 of the country’s top researchers to call for a national plan on sight loss and draw attention to what is being called, the “1:20 funding gap.”
The charity will be conducting a major study this year to determine the economic and personal impact of sight loss, and will use the findings to lobby decision-makers later in the year. Rubina Ahmed, Fight for Sight’s Head of Research, calls the gap shameful: “The amount of funding currently is not fit for the scale of the challenge, with hundreds of eye diseases and millions of people affected globally. Science and technology have the answers – the only barrier is the funding to make it happen.”
