Bausch and Lomb provides funding for childhood blindness schemes

Bausch and Lomb has provided funding for a pair of projects aimed at reducing the prevalence of childhood blindness in developing nations.

In association with the Lions Clubs International Foundation, the company is offering two research grants of $50,000 (31,030 pounds) each for projects carried out by Orbis in South Africa and Zambia and the International Centre for Eye Health in Bangladesh.

These grants are presented to qualified organisations conducting projects that will strengthen and expand treatment for preventable childhood blindness, particularly paediatric cataracts.

It comes as part of Bausch and Lomb and the Lions Clubs International Foundation's joint Pediatric Cataract Initiative, which has been allocating funds for schemes of this kind since December 2010.

Dr Larry Benjamin of Orbis Southern Africa said: "Instead of only measuring our work through numbers of children who have cataract surgery, this grant will enable us to track the quality of surgical outcomes and factors affecting children's access to services."

Last month, Bausch and Lomb announced the UK launch of its new PureVision2 HD for Astigmatism contact lenses, with the rollout of the complete range set to conclude in July.