Over 2.6 million Chinese cataract patients have regained their vision after receiving help from the nationwide Sight First China Action from 1997 to 2002, according to 2002 yearbook on works related to China's disabled people.

Sight First China Action was jointly launched by the Chinese government and the Lion's Club International (LCI), one of the world's largest charity organizations, in August 1997.

The program also includes activities such as popularizing blindness-prevention knowledge and training ophthalmologists.

From 1997 to 2001, the program helped bring ophthalmologic services to 100 hospitals at county level, train 4,000 ophthalmologists from rural areas, and establish a database of eye diseases in Wuhan City of central China's Hubei Province in 1999.

The group plans to help another 2.5 million cataract patients regain their sight from 2002 to 2006 and provide medical services to more blind people in the country's rural areas.

At present, there are 8.77 million Chinese people suffering from eye disorders, accounting for 14.6 percent of the total disabled population. Over four million people are blinded by cataracts.

According to statistics from the World Health Organization and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, up to 45 million people worldwide are blind and the number is growing, but 80 percent of cases could be prevented or cured with better treatment.

(Xinhua News Agency October 15, 2003)