ADVENTURER Sir Ranulph Fiennes has taken on a new challenge – helping stop thousands of people worldwide losing their sight.
In his first role as an ambassador for Seeing is Believing, a global initiative tackling avoidable blindness, Sir Ranulph said: “Of the 285 million people living with blindness and visual impairment in the world, 80% of cases could have been prevented, treated or cured.”
The Polar explorer was launching a 5k race around London’s famous square mile raising funds for Seeing is Believing. Entry fees from the 6,500 runners will be used to provide eye care to the same number of children in the developing world.
Sir Ranulph added: “The statistics around avoidable blindness are quite shocking. Tragically one child goes blind every minute and 60% of these will go on to die within a year.
“If a father goes blind then it’s not just him who suffers, if he loses his job then the whole family will suffer. The heartening thing is that small measures can have a really significant impact and the funds raised through this year’s race will help thousands of children.”
Joining Sir Ranulph at race launch was British visually impaired and Paralympic running legend Noel Thatcher MBE, winner of five Paralympic gold medals, and David Bedford, former 10,000m world record holder and race director of the London Marathon.
Advice on how you can support Seeing is Believing can be found on the race’s Facebook page www.facebook.com/standardcharteredgreatcity
