Dear Seva Canada community,
Since my last letter to you, I’ve had an extraordinary visit to Seva Canada’s partners in both Nepal and India – the places where Seva’s mission took root.
I’m delighted to share that today in these places, many of our hospital partners are moving toward financial sustainability. Due to decades of partnership, they can provide worldclass eye care for their own people with reduced dependence on foreign donations.
Yet, the worldwide need for eye care is still enormous, and Seva Canada supports programs at all stages of development. Financial support for direct eye care services is most needed in the places historically neglected by foreign aid. Places where eye doctors and nurses are excellent, and committed, but there are never enough of them. Places that do a lot with little, and are usually located at the end of a long and bumpy road.
Fundamentally, Seva’s main role in these places is to equip the hospitals, find patients suffering needlessly from vision loss, and fund eye care that will give those patients independence, and the ability to lead lives full of all the benefits that come with clear vision.
But the long view is arguably of equal importance- Seva Canada’s other key role is to support our partners to pursue cost recovery, to measure the quality of their care, to conduct original research and create new knowledge, to translate that knowledge into practice and to share it with the global eye health community.
In large part due to this second set of activities. our longest-term partners are now considered thought leaders and mentors to other eye care programs. Aravind Eye Care System, our oldest partner who famously pioneered financially self-sustaining eye care, needs no foreign support for its core program delivery. Its primary partnership with Seva is now focused on helping eye hospitals around the world be and do better.
The through-line is you, our donors – who support both direct services and capacity-building. both of which are at the heart of our mission.
Thank you for supporting Seva Canada’s programs at every stage of “development.” We are so grateful to be on this growth journey with you.
Yours in Seva,
Liz Brant
Executive Director
