39 million people are blind, and 80% of cases are preventable.
Unite For Sight is a non-profit organization headquartered in New Haven, Connecticut that supports local eye clinics worldwide to eliminate barriers to eye care for patients living in extreme poverty. They invest financial and human resources into local clinics’ social ventures in an effort to expand their reach and impact.
What differentiates Unite For Sight from many other organizations is their immersive global health education, partnerships with local professionals, and their funding model that allows 100% of donations to directly provide care.
Unite For Sight has provided care for over 2.9 million patients living in poverty, including more than 109,000 sight-restoring surgeries.
Volunteer Abroad
Interested in volunteering abroad to support Unite For Sight’s work? Check out their year-round Global Impact Corps. Global Impact Fellows work with one of 9 partner clinics in Ghana, Honduras, and India to provide healthcare to people living in extreme poverty.
As a volunteer, you would participate and learn from local partner doctors to aid patients in a variety of ways. Some responsibilities include patient intake, testing visual acuity, observing surgeries, distributing medication and glasses, and assisting with local education initiatives.
Research Abroad
If you are interested in doing research while you abroad, check out Unite For Sight’s Global Impact Lab. The Lab offers students who are volunteering abroad the opportunity to pursue a global health research study. Students who choose to work on research projects are mentored to design and implement quality research studies that are relevant to Unite For Sight’s global health delivery programs and that contribute to knowledge about global health needs and solutions.
If you are not interested in volunteering or researching abroad, Unite For Sight offers other opportunities to get involved, including internships and an annual conference right here in Connecticut.
Internships
Unite For Sight hosts interns throughout the year at their headquarters in New Haven, Connecticut. Intern positions are available to both graduate and undergraduate students and include a variety of responsibilities that contribute to high-impact front-line global health delivery programs. More information about the internship can be found on Handshake.
Global Health & Innovation Conference
Each year, Unite For Sight hosts the Global Health & Innovation Conference at Yale. This conference provides an opportunity for students to learn about global health and to network with other students and with professionals working in government, academia, clinical medicine, public health, development, and social enterprise.
