The Royal Family has highlighted the Duchess of Edinburgh’s work sharing a series of photographs from her visit to the Caribbean nation.
Sophie travelled to Antigua and Barbuda as Global Ambassador for the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), attending the inaugural Global Summit for Eye Health alongside the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
The Duchess had met cataract patients, surgeons and nurses at a local eye clinic, including medical professionals who had recently trained in India through the Cure Blindness programme.
Read More: Duchess Sophie reveals Queen’s delight
She also visited a new primary eye care unit in St John’s, where she met patients who had recently regained their sight.
During her speech at the summit, the Duchess made a passionate case for giving avoidable blindness the same attention as other major health challenges.
“For too long treatable and avoidable blindness has been overlooked, perceived perhaps as a non-vital and non-life-threatening condition,” she said.
However, Sophie stressed that restoring sight can have a profound effect on people’s lives, adding: “The treatment of avoidable blindness is as imperative as any other health challenge.”
She went on to point to the wider benefits of affordable treatment, saying that effective, low-cost interventions can prevent people from losing “their window onto the world” while opening up greater opportunities and choices.
Read More: Duchess Sophie’s secret heartbreaking journey with Lady Louise laid bare
