HKI's proven programs combat the devastating global health threats of blindness and malnutrition.

• According to the World Health Organization, 37 million people are blind worldwide, and another 124 million have low vision and are at risk of becoming blind. A child goes blind every minute, an adult every 5 seconds.
  
• An estimated 75% of global blindness is treatable and/or preventable, but 90% of the blind live in the poorest areas of the developing world without access to quality eye care at an affordable price.
  
• Of the three million children who suffer from clinical vitamin A deficiency (VAD), an estimated 250,000 – 500,000 annually go blind. Most (70%) die within 12 months of losing their sight.
  
• As many as a third of the world’s people are affected by micronutrient deficiencies. Six million children under the age of five die needlessly each year as a result of malnutrition. That’s one child every 6 seconds.
  
• 80% of maternal deaths are caused by diseases and complications linked to hunger and malnutrition, such as anemia, VAD and other micronutrient deficiencies.

Despite the gravity of global blindness and malnutrition, solutions have been available for decades. Nearly 75% of all blindness is either preventable or treatable using techniques easily accessible in developed countries. VAD and other micronutrient deficiencies can be tackled through supplementation, food fortification and other food-based programs. In fact, vitamin A supplementation has long been regarded as the most cost-effective public health intervention in the world. Interventions to provide other micronutrients are constantly being innovated to achieve similar cost and operational effectiveness.

Working together with international development organizations, local and national governments, and universities, HKI has played a key role in researching, piloting, assessing, scaling up and advocating for interventions that significantly reduce,and, where possible, prevent these conditions. HKI is devoted to working with partners around the world to help meet key provisions of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), selected by all 191 United Nations member states, as well as Vision 2020, The Right to Sight.

HKI’s two major areas of expertise are Eye Health and Nutrition. Our Eye Health programs address the major causes of blindness in the world identified as priority eye diseases by Vision 2020, including cataract, trachoma and onchocerciasis, and refractive error.

Our Nutrition programs include vitamin A, iron/folate, zinc, and multi-micronutrient supplementation; food fortification; homestead food production (including community- and school-gardening); and school health education initiatives. The promotion of breastfeeding and complementary feeding is a component of our nutrition programs. HKI also conducts nutritional surveillance to provide critical data to governments and other development partners.

HKI is known for its proven expertise in identifying and then building on the technical and operational capacities of local governments and non-governmental partners. We develop, test and scale-up effective health interventions and integrate these interventions within government and community structures. Our cutting-edge research provides information that is immediately applied to our programs and is also disseminated to the international scientific community. This strategy results in more efficient replication of successful programs not only by HKI, but by other NGOs and government agencies that learn from our evidence-based strategies.

Please use the navigation bar on the left for more information about HKI's programs.