The focus of the Appeal for Wellbeing of Women is in the area of pregnancy and birth. We want to build on the progress made so far by creating a unique international research resource dedicated to solving the four major complications in pregnancy
- recurrent miscarriage
- intrauterine growth restriction (abnormally small babies)
- pre-eclampsia (high blood pressure in pregnancy)
- premature delivery.
The research will involve taking blood samples from the parents and babies affected by one or more of these complications. It will then be used for DNA production and carefully examined to investigate both heritance patterns and possible underlying causes of these conditions. Part of this funding will be used for research fellowships, scholarships and bursaries to support specialist doctors in obstetrics and gynaecology.
India will be the focus for funds raised by the Lord Mayor’s Appeal for ORBIS. It is the second most populous country in the world and shoulders the heaviest burden of avoidable childhood blindness. 15% of the world’s blind children live in India, more than in any other country, and yet only 1% of Indian Ophthalmologists are trained to treat children.
The Lord Mayor’s childhood blindness programme aims to dramatically reduce the number of children who are needlessly blind in Rajasthan, India by supporting the development of two specialist children’s eye care centres in Jaipur and Udaipur where there are currently no trained paediatric ophthalmologists. Working in partnership with local hospitals the Lord Mayor’s programme will build the capacity of these hospitals by establishing two fully trained eye care teams, providing them with all the equipment they need and helping them to develop long term and sustainable children’s eye care services for the poor local communities.
