Corporate Partnerships & Sponsorships

Improving Aboriginal health in WA’s Pilbara is the objective of an ambitious new health program initiated by the Lions Eye Institute in partnership with BHP Billiton Iron Ore.

Launched by His Excellency the Governor of Western Australia, the innovative two-year strategy is aimed at thousands of indigenous people who suffer from diabetes and associated blinding eye diseases.

The Pilbara Aboriginal Eye Health Program will target diabetic retinopathy and cataracts – two of the major causes of blindness in our community and especially prevalent within the Aboriginal population.

BHP Billiton’s support has enabled LEI to appoint a program coordinator, train Aboriginal health workers to run screenings in Aboriginal communities and, where necessary, refer patients for further medical treatment. Over a two year period, the program will help LEI improve indigenous health in WA, compile data to analyse the severity of blinding eye disease in the Pilbara and substantially help others who work to improve Aboriginal health.

At least a third of people with diabetes have diabetic retinopathy and, of those, in a third it is visually threatening. This figure is probably higher in diabetic Aborigines as they tend to develop more serious complications associated with diabetes. These individuals are also more likely to develop cataract, and often at a younger age, than non-indigenous West Australians.