Four Nepalese eyesight institutions share $1.3m prize

Four Nepalese institutions are sharing a €1-million ($1.3 million) prize from a Portuguese foundation for their work fighting eyesight disorders and blindness in their country.

The Lisbon-based Champalimaud Foundation's annual Vision Award, created in 2007, claims to be the biggest monetary award for work on eyesight and one of the world's largest scientific prizes.

The foundation said in a statement the winning institutions have over the past 20 years helped to reduce treatable and avoidable blindness in Nepal where, it said, vision disorders such as cataracts are a major health concern.

The Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology, Nepal Netra Jyoti Sangh, the Eastern Regional Eye Care Program involving the Sagarmatha Choudhary and Biratnagar eye hospitals, and the Lumbini Eye Institute were named as winners Wednesday.