Pears Foundation steps in with £1.7m Ethiopia blindness programme after USAID cuts

The UK-based Pears Foundation has pledged £1.7 million ($2.3 million) to an Israeli-led programme designed to stop more than 1.5 million people in Ethiopia from losing their sight to trachoma, amid growing concern over the impact of American aid cuts.

The five-year initiative will be delivered by the Israeli aid organisation NALA Foundation, which works to combat neglected tropical diseases in Africa.

The funding comes after major reductions to US foreign aid spending, including cuts to programmes previously supported through USAID that targeted trachoma prevention and treatment across Ethiopia and other countries.

Trachoma is the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness. The bacterial infection spreads easily in areas with poor sanitation and can eventually cause permanent sight loss if left untreated.

Rather than focusing on regions with the highest current infection rates, the new programme will target Ethiopian communities where cases have already fallen significantly but remain vulnerable to resurgence if prevention efforts stop too early.

In a statement released through Israeli international development umbrella group SID-Israel, Pears Foundation executive chair Sir Trevor Pears said: “This partnership comes at a critical moment.

“Significant progress has already been made in reducing trachoma, but progress can remain fragile when long-term support disappears too early. We believe philanthropy can play an important role in helping communities protect these gains and build sustainable local systems for the future.”

The programme will focus particularly on women and children and include hygiene education, improvements to sanitation and water infrastructure, support for local healthcare systems and research into long-term prevention.

Michal Bruck, chief executive of the NALA Foundation, said: “Global health progress is often most vulnerable at the final stage.

“Without continued investment, communities that have already made significant progress can quickly find themselves at risk again.”

According to eJewishPhilanthropy, which first reported the story, the initiative emerged after the Ethiopian Ministry of Health approached NALA following the withdrawal of some international funding streams.

Dina Gidron, the Pears Foundation’s representative in Israel, told the outlet that the project strongly reflected the foundation’s longstanding philanthropic priorities.

“When I started working with the Pears Foundation, more than 15 years ago, Sir Trevor talked about his wish for the Jewish people to come together to possibly solve a wicked world problem, like preventable blindness,” she said.

She added: “To Sir Trevor and all of us at the Foundation, this is a win-win-win from every angle.”

The Pears Foundation, established by the Pears family in 1991, supports projects in Britain, Israel, Africa and Germany, with a particular focus on education, social action and humanitarian work.