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Ezra Daniel, Nigeria. © Sightsavers

Ezra Daniel, Nigeria. © Sightsavers

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Sightsavers Launches Easter Appeal

March 2010

Sightsavers Ireland has launched a new appeal this Easter that highlights the challenges of sight loss in Africa. The campaign is themed ‘Being Blind is Hard. Being Blind in Africa is harder'.

The campaign aims to encourage people to think about why it is harder being blind in Africa. Eye care is not part of the national health system in many African countries. If you have an eye condition the only option is to pay for treatment. Some people simply cannot afford to go to hospital to have an eye complaint looked at or treated so they go blind unnecessarily. In addition, very often no appropriate eye care is available due to a lack of equipment or trained eye care personnel.

For people who are blind they often do not have the rehabilitation services available in their community that would be taken for granted in Ireland. Without these services they cannot lead independent lives. This can have two effects, it means that they cannot earn a living to support themselves or their family and it can prevent a family member or relative from working or attending school as they have to act as a carer. Both these effects can mean increased poverty for the person and their family.

For children who are blind the harsh reality is that many of them will never to school, and 60% of children die within one year of going blind.

The campaign was created by Irish International and media planned by Clear Blue Water, the overall campaign is brought to life with a combination of advertising on TV, radio, press, outdoor, door drops as well as PR over six weeks in the run up to Easter.

The cornerstone of this campaign is two new TV ads directed by award winning director, Conor Horgan. The TV aims to stimulate Irish people's natural empathy by contrasting the known with the unknown. We ask people to put themselves in the shoes of the blind - both in Ireland, and in the developing countries where Sightsavers works. By urging people to put a price on their own sight, it becomes clear that the tiny sums of money needed to help save someone's sight in Africa are very small in the greater scheme of things.

In press we have deliberately used quotes which are incongruous with our beneficiary images. The quotes used are not representative of the individuals pictured but inspired by research with the Irish public. This, we anticipate, highlights the difference between the Irish reality and that of a person living in poverty in Africa.

Let us know what you think about the campaign, e-mail us at editor@sightsavers.ie