The U.S-based P3 Impact Award, named Eye Bank of Ethiopia (EBE), corneal blindness elimination partnership, among the five leading world-impacting public-private partnerships.
P3 Impact Award announcing the top five finalists recently said, EBE, the first-ever eye bank in sub-Saharan Africa aims to serve as a model for development throughout Africa which will utilize global best practices, ensure a steady supply of tissue to the country, and drive cornea health system policy enablers.
Founded in 2003, EBE is a tri-party partnership among the Ethiopian Ministry of Health, global non-profit eye bank SightLife, and the Himalayan Cataract Project.
The EBE met the demand for the transplant 100 percent by collecting cornea from donors to provide affordable, and quality eye care services in Ethiopia, where the curable corneal blindness is the highest in Africa.
The partnership has completed 2,400 corneal transplants in the past five years, and 70 percent of transplants have been successful.
The P3 Impact Award was created by partnerships of Concordia, a member-based organization that encourages partnerships for social impact, the University of Virginia, and the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Global Partnerships.
The award, launched in 2014, recognizes and honors leading public-private partnerships (P3s) that improve communities and the world.
The EBE as the award finalist will be recognized in the 2020 Concordia Annual summit and will have the opportunity to be featured as partnership thought-leaders via the U.S. State Department’s program and serve as a mentor, speaker, or case study.
