Labour party conference: Sightsavers urges MPs to champion disability rights

At the Labour party conference from 22-25 September, Sightsavers engaged with key political leaders to advocate for global health and disability rights.

Representatives from Sightsavers met with the Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner; Lord David Blunkett, trade minister and former secretary of state for international development; Douglas Alexander MP, Secretary of State for Scotland, Ian Murray MP; and Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Peter Kyle.

Sightsavers also met with Development Minister Anneliese Dodds MP at an event co-hosted by Bond and the Labour Campaign for International Development. At the event, Minister Dodds highlighted the critical role of disability inclusion in global development.

During the three days, MPs and peers visited Sightsavers’ booth, where they learned about its work in eye health, disease elimination and disability inclusion, and discussed how these efforts align with reducing global inequality and poverty, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. Visitors also picked up The Changing Times newspaper, featuring stories from young people with disabilities worldwide, and took photos with the Changing Times photo frames.

Sightsavers leads the flagship Inclusive Futures consortium programme funded by UK aid and USAID. The organisation has also delivered numerous high-performing eye health programmes through UK Aid Match and spearheaded a large portion of the UK government’s neglected tropical disease elimination programmes over the last decade.

Sightsavers’ programmes help to strengthen health and education systems, and improve the lives of people with disabilities, particularly women and girls. Sightsavers is committed to working with partners, including the UK government, to drive improvements in global health and disability inclusion.