September 4, 2009, New York, NY - The Champalimaud Foundation, one of the largest global science foundations, announced today that Helen Keller International (HKI) is the recipient of its 2009 Vision Award. The €1 million (US$1.4 million) António Champalimaud Vision Award is the largest monetary prize in the field of vision and among the largest scientific and humanitarian prizes in the world.

The 2009 António Champalimaud Vision Award has been awarded to HKI for its outstanding achievements in preventing blindness in the developing world. In particular, its decades-long leadership in the global control of vitamin A deficiency – the leading cause of childhood blindness and a significant contributor to childhood mortality – has helped to save the sight and lives of millions of people around the world.

 

Helen Keller International has programs in 22 countries that combat malnutrition, cataract, trachoma, onchocerciasis and refractive error, and has been instrumental in creating programs to control vitamin A deficiency. HKI currently offers vitamin A supplementation (VAS) programmes in 13 countries in Africa and 5 countries in Asia. The goal is to strengthen country-driven plans to achieve and sustain high VAS coverage by reaching more than 80 percent of targeted children with the vitamin capsules. It is estimated that these programs help to save the sight and lives of 80 million children every year.

In addition to its VAS programs, HKI addresses vitamin A deficiency through a multi-faceted approach using a variety of intervention tools that focus on promoting sustainability within communities.  In Mozambique, for example, HKI promotes the production and consumption of orange-fleshed sweetpotatoes, which are rich in vitamin A. HKI works directly with local communities and forges partnerships with key governmental, research and non-governmental partners to ensure long-term commitment. HKI provides training and supervision to agricultural extension workers, community groups and farmers, collaborates with growers, women’s groups and schools to distribute the plants, and develops communication strategies to encourage acceptance and consumption of these potatoes by growers and consumers. 

In addition to these programs, HKI offers a wide range of other highly efficient and effective programs to meet its mission to save the sight and lives of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged. For example, the organization addresses trachoma - the leading infectious cause of preventable blindness – by implementing the World Health Organization’s SAFE (Surgery, Antibiotics, Facial cleanliness and Environmental improvement) strategy through providing antibiotic supplies and equipment, and through innovative school health and community-based programs such as training health workers to perform surgery. In Africa, HKI collaborates with governments, communities and other organizations to eradicate onchocerciasis (river blindness), a blinding parasitic disease, by setting up delivery systems so that that adequate and proper medication reaches people in need.  HKI also treats cataract by training surgeons, nurses and community health workers.

Because blindness and the myriad health consequences of malnutrition have enormous personal, social, and economic repercussions that often condemn otherwise healthy individuals to lives of poverty and dependence, HKI’s programs not only promote health, but the far-reaching related outcomes of dignity, and social and economic independence.

To address vitamin A deficiency, HKI has received significant support for vitamin A supplementation from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA),  the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and other national and local governments as well as from private and corporate foundations and individuals.

About the Antonio Champalimaud Vision Award

The Antonio Champalimaud Vision Award was initiated by the Champalimaud Foundation in 2006 and referred to as the “Nobel Prize for Vision” by the former President of India, A.P.J. Kalam who hosted the launching ceremony. The Award has the support of the World Health Organization’s VISION 2020 - The Right To Sight initiative.

In order to provide maximum support for the fight against blindness, it concentrates both on practical blindness prevention and on scientific research.  In odd numbered years, starting in 2007, the Award is given for blindness prevention on the ground, particularly in developing countries.  In even numbered years, beginning in 2008, the Award recognizes outstanding scientific research. In 2007, the Vision Award was given to India’s Aravind Eye Care System and in 2008 it was jointly awarded to King-Wai Yau and Jeremy Nathans, from Johns Hopkins University. The award is given to recipients for their outstanding achievements and award funds are to be used in any way that furthers and amplifies the recipients’ proven efforts.

The Jury Panel for this prestigious award is comprised of leading international scientists and prominent public figures involved in work to meet the needs of the developing world. They are: Alfred Sommer, Paul Sieving, Jacques Delors, Amartya Sen, Carla Shatz, Joshua Sanes, Mark Bear, Gullapalli Rao, José Cunha-Vaz, António Guterres, and the Nobel Laureate, Susumu Tonegawa.

About the Champalimaud Foundation

The Champalimaud Foundation is a private organization dedicated to making advances in biomedical science. With an endowment of 500,000,000 Euros, the Foundation’s work is focused on three core areas – neuroscience research, cancer research, and an outreach programme to support the fight against blindness. Based in Lisbon, Portugal, the Foundation is in the process of constructing the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, a cutting-edge research facility that, by 2010, will host the majority of the Foundation’s research activities.