Pears Foundation funds Israeli NGO to protect 1.5 million Ethiopians from trachoma

The Pears Foundation, the London-based Jewish family foundation chaired by Sir Trevor Pears, announced on 27 May 2026 a five-year grant of £1.7 million, about $2.3 million, to the Israeli nonprofit NALA Foundation to prevent blindness from trachoma in Ethiopia. The programme is meant to protect more than 1.5 million people.

Trachoma is a bacterial eye infection spread through contact and by flies in places with poor water and sanitation. Repeated infections scar the eyelid until the lashes turn inwards and scrape the eye, eventually causing blindness. Ethiopia carries one of the heaviest trachoma burdens in the world, although years of mass treatment have cut rates sharply in many districts.

The new programme targets communities where infection rates have already fallen below 10 percent but where the disease could easily come back if prevention stops. NALA, which specialises in neglected tropical diseases and has long been supported by Pears, will run a community-based model focused on women and children. It combines hygiene education, improvements to water and sanitation, support for local health services, and a study of how well the results hold up over time. The Ethiopian Ministry of Health asked NALA to design the initiative, and if it succeeds the approach could be extended to other districts.

The grant comes after the United States cut back the US Agency for International Development, which had provided around $60 million a year for programmes against neglected tropical diseases, including trachoma. Trevor Pears said progress can remain fragile when long-term support disappears too early, and NALA's chief executive, Michal Bruck, warned that communities can quickly find themselves at risk again without continued investment. The foundation's representative in Israel, Dina Gidron, called the project a win on every side.