Armenian EyeCare Project (AECP)

“The Armenian EyeCare Project’s mission is to eliminate preventable blindness in Armenia and to make quality eye care accessible to everyone in the country.” The AECP was founded after Armenia’s Minister of Health, in late 1991, asked the international community for help in fighting a “growing wave of blindness in Armenia” and for assistance with the country’s serious health crisis. The desperate circumstances in Armenia were a result of a number of widespread factors, all occurring at the same time. In 1988, about 50,000 people perished and countless others were injured in a devastating earthquake; a six-year war between Azerbaijan and Armenia began, resulting in thousands of serious injuries; and 70 years of Soviet (mis)management had devastating effects on Armenia and its progress, especially when it came to medical care infrastructure, the embargos on the East and West, and a number of severe eye diseases and conditions not seen in other countries. In addition to all of this was the alarming rate of juvenile diabetes and diabetes-related conditions.