Late in 2007 NISSAN, South Africa joined ICEE by providing a fully fitted mobile eye clinic unit for rural and remote eye care in South Africa.

The mobile clinic is equipped for refractions as well as a fitting laboratory to provide on the spot spectacles to order.

“With the ICEE Child Eye Care Programme the goal is to see two and a half million children across the 11 districts in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and provide spectacles to whomever needs refraction,” said ICEE Regional Director, Reshma Dabindeen.

“But once we started to roll it out we realised access to rural schools is exceptionally difficult and even more challenging was to get children to the nearest clinic. It was not only costly but exceptionally time consuming and often parents can not afford to do that. The mobile clinic now means that the refractions can done and lenses fitted into the frame immediately so the child will have a pair of spectacles the same day,” she added.

At the handover of the mobile clinic Professor Kovin Naidoo, ICEE Global Programmes Director, thanked Nissan for their vision to see the benefit of this programme. Professor Naidoo said, “to date the Child Eye Care Programme has screened the vision of 191,360 children and, in schools for the blind, 329 children have had comprehensive eye examinations and received spectacles, magnifying glasses and telescopes which will make them more independent.”

“The collaboration of Nissan has shown corporate social responsibility is a powerful tool for the improvement of the lives of our people through the eradication of poverty and access to resources in our society,” he said.

Responding to Professor Naidoo, Managing Director of Nissan South Africa, Julio Panama, said “…we believe the mobile eye care unit will alleviate much of the pressure brought about through inaccessibility to facilities and lack of resources. We also believe children are the future of our country and we feel we are contributing in no small measure to ensuring their health and, indirectly, to the education of generations to come.”

“Our mission is to eliminate avoidable blindness due to refractive and low vision in disadvantaged communities”. Speaking on behalf of ICEE, Regional Director Reshma Dabindeen.

The Child Eye Care Programme is part of the Giving Sight to Africa, KwaZulu-Natal programme which in partnership with the Department of Health and Department of Education South Africa and supported by ICEE donors of Australia, Institute or Eye Research, USAID, Standard Chartered Bank ‘Seeing is Believing’ and Optometry Giving Sight.