Fight for Sight shares strategy for research during COVID19 and beyond

Fight for Sight has pledged to continue its efforts to advance eye research during the current coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic.

Releasing insight into its new project funding strategy, the charity said that it will do “everything in its power to maintain business as usual” during the COVID-19 epidemic.

Fight for Sight confirmed that it will continue to award research funding over the next few months “to ensure that its work to stop sight loss continues in the coming years.”

Over the last 12 months the charity has increased the number of project grants that it funds to five, while it has plans to fund nine PhDs over the next year. The projects that it funds aim to progress research in areas such as age-related macular degeneration, myopia and inherited eye conditions in order to find new treatments for these leading causes of blindness.

Fight for Sight said it has “never been more important to invest in eye research,” with figures reporting that the number of people across Europe who will be affected by the leading cause of blindness, age-related macular degeneration, is expected to reach 10 million by 2050.

Chief executive of Fight for Sight, Sherine Krause, said: “This is a challenging time and there’s a real risk that funding in this vital area is reduced, so we feel it’s vital that we can carry on funding the best research in the sight loss sector.”

“Although it’s inevitable that some research will be delayed as the doctors and NHS staff we fund are redeployed to the frontline and labs and equipment are redirected into efforts to beat COVID-19, we remain as committed as ever to the fight against sight loss. We will be working closely with our researchers over the coming months to make sure they can continue their work,” she added.

OT endeavours to keep the most up-to-date news on our website and this information was correct when published. However, the situation regarding COVID-19 is rapidly evolving. Please check OT’s rolling optics-specific coverage for the latest news and guidance on COVID-19.