£1.7m for children’s eye health research
Working towards better diagnostics and treatment
Moorfields Eye Charity (MEC) and the Medical Research Foundation (MRF) are working in partnership to support research into childhood and adolescent eye health with £1.7m in funding – the first funding initiative of its kind in the UK.
According to the International Association for the Prevention of Blindness report, Focus on Child Eye Health 2022, at least 450 million children globally have a sight condition that needs treatment, with 90 million of them living with some form of sight loss.
Research supported through the partnership aims to increase understanding of the mechanisms underpinning eye health and disease in children and adolescents, which could lead to improvements in diagnosis and treatments.
The MRF is investing £1.2m through donations from Barbara Sofia Formi, Anne Catherine Burdon, Louisa Stacey Pike and Herman Spooner, to support research nationally.
MEC is seeking to raise £500,000 to support paediatric research, providing an opportunity for Moorfields and its academic partner the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology to add further valuable impact into the paediatric space.
Andrew Dick, director, the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, said: “Currently only three per cent of research funding is spent on eye diseases [Fight for Sight, Time to Focus 2020]. This partnership and significant investment from the Medical Research Foundation and Moorfields Eye Charity will change the landscape of children’s eye health. The funding and multi-disciplinary approach with rapid translation of research at Moorfields and UCL will help bring new therapies and better outcomes to patients.”
Robert Dufton, MEC chief executive, said: “This is an amazing opportunity for Moorfields Eye Charity and the Medical Research Foundation to improve children’s eye health. We’re delighted to be working together to further support Moorfields Eye Hospital and its academic partner, the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology – known for their pioneering advancements, and to make a difference to the lives of patients and their families.”
Dr Angela Hind, MRF chief executive, added: “The sight of millions of children depends on continual medical advances underpinned by innovative research. This joint funding between the Medical Research Foundation and Moorfields Eye Charity represents an invaluable opportunity in the hugely underfunded research field of child and adolescent eye health.
“We’re thrilled to be providing funding for ground-breaking, multi-disciplinary research nationally that we hope will change the lives of many young patients with sight conditions.”