Standard Chartered Bank and Helen Keller International: Seeing is Believing

Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) and Helen Keller International (HKI) have partnered since 2004 to provide eye glasses, support cataract surgeries, and distribute Vitamin A capsules in Indonesia.  HKI plans and coordinates the work, and SCB provides resources to implement activities that also involve the Indonesian Ministry of Health (MOH) and professional associations.  The MOH ensures consistency and sustainability of activities, and professional associations strengthen local surgical capabilities.

The partnership has supported nearly 2000 surgeries to restore sight on the island of Lombok, increasing the success rate from below 30% to over 80%.  It has reached nearly ½ million children in West Java with Vitamin A capsules, including 60,000 children receiving Vitamin A for the first time, and provided eye glasses and cataract surgeries to more than 800 children in Jakarta.  The partnership is also strengthening capacity among government and private health professionals at the local level to distribute Vitamin A and perform sight-restoring surgeries, increasing the sustainability of these services.

SCB and HKI plan to continue to work together toward their mutual goal of improving sight in Indonesia.  This includes sharing the lessons they have learned in working together to encourage more partnerships to eliminate preventable blindness.