- Pan-European trading venue for securitised derivatives supports the "Childhood Blindness Project" in Nigeria
- New Partnership is part of Spectrum Markets' CSR activities
There are 36 million blind people worldwide, and nearly half of visual impairment could be prevented or treated if it was detected at an early stage. Children in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa are particularly affected by this, as blindness deprives them of their independence and opportunities at an early age and can prevent them from attending or succeeding in education. In 2021, Sightsavers therefore plans to carry out around 400,000 visual acuity tests on school children in Nigeria. The work also aims to strengthen eye health services and infrastructure that reaches over eight million children. As of today, this is being done with the support of Spectrum Markets as a new partner. "Due to increasing digitalisation, the world is becoming a smaller place and participation in social, economic and cultural life at a human level is important for us all. At Spectrum Markets we want to make a contribution to creating equal opportunities in developing countries in a way that can be sustainable, and aligns with our progressive ethos. That's why we are delighted to announce our commitment on today's World Health Day," explains Nicky Maan, CEO at Spectrum Markets.
"We will begin by training teachers to identify students with visual impairment so that as many children as possible can receive vital eye examinations," explains Rob King, Corporate Relationships Manager at Sightsavers. "With the support of Spectrum Markets and the commitment of a long-term partnership, we hope to protect the sight of thousands of children in Nigeria."
“Technological progress is at the heart of what we do at Spectrum. We believe in paving a better way and supporting the efforts of those who are bringing positive change. The opportunity to give children sight is not only an investment in the future of these children and their families, it is also an investment in the future of our global community. At the beginning of the year we partnered with Sightsavers, inspired by their efforts for several decades, our partnership will help support full circle projects that provide greater access and provisions of training and facilities to communities that need them most,” says Martina Hoffard, Head of Marketing at Spectrum Markets.
About Spectrum Markets
Spectrum Markets is the trading name of Spectrum MTF Operator GmbH. Headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, it is a pan-European trading venue for securitised derivatives aimed at financial institutions and their retail investors. Regulated by BaFin and MiFID II compliant, the exchange uses a uniquely open architecture system to allow investors to trade with increased choice, control and stability. Through its pan-European ISIN, 24/5 trading services and its own proprietary venue, Spectrum enables a guaranteed baseline level of liquidity over a range of products and is able to swiftly and safely match a significant number of orders and process multiple quotes every second. Further information can be found at spectrum-markets.com
About Sightsavers
Sightsavers is an international organisation that works in more than 30 developing countries to prevent avoidable blindness, treat and eliminate neglected tropical disease, and promote the rights of people with disabilities. It is a registered UK charity (Registered charity numbers 207544 and SC038110) www.sightsavers.org
Globally 2.2 billion people have a vision impairment and of these, at least 1 billion people have a vision impairment or blindness that could have been prevented or is yet to be addressed. This burden weighs more heavily on poorer countries, and on marginalised communities. And projections show that global demand for eye care is set to surge in the coming years.
In the seven decades since its foundation, Sightsavers has:
- Supported more than 1.2 BILLION treatments for neglected tropical diseases
- Carried out more than 7.7 million cataract operations to restore sight
- Carried out more than 196 million eye examinations
- Dispensed more than 4.6 million glasses
Sightsavers holds Independent Research Organisation (IRO) status, making them one of the only international non-governmental organisations to hold this status in the UK. Sightsavers conducts high quality research to address global gaps in knowledge and put research findings into practice by feeding them back into the design of programmes.
Media Contact
TE Communications
Matthias Wühle
T: +49 (0) 69 20735732
E-Mail: mwe@te-communications.ch