L V Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) is taking part in a global study on impact of vision care to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

``In collaboration with the Queen's University of Belfast, L V Prasad Eye Institute along with nearly 30 other partners from the US, UK, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and India, is working on a suite of studies to explore the impact of vision care on the global level to achieve Sustainable Development Goals in low and middle-income countries,'' the Hyderabad-based institute said in a release on Saturday.

The study has received funding support of £3.5 million from the Wellcome Trust and Chen Yet-Sen Family Foundation.

Poor vision is the world’s largest unmet disability affecting 2.2 billion people. About 8.8 million people in India are blind, and another 47 million people are visually impaired. 70% of the blindness the world over is preventable.

Led by Nathan Congdon of Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) in the UK and Rohit Khanna of the L V Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI), various universities, schools, non-government organisations, public health bodies, government ministries, institutions and patient groups are part of the multi-disciplinary study team.

The other collaborators from India include Suvarna Alladi from NIMHANS, Bengaluru, Pallab Maulik from the George Institute for Global Health India, New Delhi and Shashidhar Komaravolu from the Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders Society of India, Hyderabad Deccan Chapter.

“Termed as ENGINE (Eyecare Nurtures Good-health, Innovation, driving-safety and Education), it is a five-year project designed to leverage high-quality research results to drive lasting policy change and achieve an improved quality of life for people in low and middle-income countries,'' Rohit Khanna, Director, Gullapalli Pratibha Rao International Centre for Advancement of Rural Eye Care (GPR ICARE), L V Prasad Eye Institute, said.

ENGINE comprises four research trials in India, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, to examine the impact of glasses on promoting better living, from childhood to old age, and the impact on multiple SDGs, he added.

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