PREFACE xxxvii that yet another major health programme could be successfully carried out in Nepal. Fortunately there were others who shared their opinion and who did not join the ranks of those pessimists who, as during the smallpox campaign, spoke of an unrealistic dream, an impossible feat, or an over-ambitious plan. In the preceding year, the writer had worked for the Inter- national Committee of the Red Cross in Lebanon with teams sent by the Netherlands government, the Swiss Red Cross, and Save the Children, Sweden. The team members, in spite of the very difficult conditions prevailing during the unhappy civil strife, had nevertheless carried out in a short period of time remarkable programmes, especially the rehabilitation of the thousands of handicapped. It was therefore not surprising that when the Dutch, Swiss, and Swedes were contacted by the writer after her stay in Nepal, they were not intimidated by, the problems foreseen and agreed to assist the programme. Mr. A. Wenger, on behalf of the Swiss Red Cross, gave his agreement that this agency set up, equip, and staff an eye hospital in the neglected western region. Dr. H. B. Lundbeck of the Swedish Save the Children, who had participated in the smallpox programme, supported the writer's request that Save the Children finance mobile teams in the west; these teams were to deal mainly in the prevention and treatment of trachoma and xerophthalmia of the child population. The Netherlands government, through the support of Mr. F. Kolkman, who had been at the head of the Dutch team in Lebanon, and several other officials in the Hague, generously donated an initial $1 million U.S. mainly to cover the cost of the training, ophthalmic instruments for the trainees, and administrative components of the programme, as well as for the construction of another eye hospital in the west; a portion of these funds was also earmarked to finance a nationwide survey of blindness in the country. Further assistance for the implementation of the different phases of the survey came from the United States; invaluable ser- vices were rendered by a group of Americans who founded the Seva Foundation, initially to help the programme. Dr. W. Foege, Director of the Centers for Disease Control, Dr. C. Kupfer, Director of the National Eye Institute, NIH, Dr. C. Dawson of the University of California, and Professor L. Kish and a number of others from The University of Michigan were to provide valuable advice or assistance in the design of survey protocols, data management, analysis of the collected data, and in the different stages of preparing the report. The writer wishes to express her deep gratitude to all the above
