Sightsavers will manage a £39m fund to tackle blindness on behalf of the Department for International Development.

Grants will be awarded to charities that are part of the Consortium for Trachoma Control, whose members include the African Medical Research Foundation (Amref), Water Aid and World Vision.

Trachoma is a bacterial eye infection which left untreated can lead to blindness and the funding will be targeted at programmes in countries like Ethiopia, Zambia and Tanzania where the disease is endemic. It will support the implementation of the ‘Surgery, Antibiotics, Facial Cleanliness and Environmental Improvements (SAFE)’ strategy which has proven successful in eliminating the disease.

In 2012 DfID made £50m available to tackle trachoma. £10.6m was spent on a global mapping project and the remaining £39m from the fund has now been awarded to Sightsavers to manage the implementation of projects.

Lynne Featherstone, international development minister said: “Stopping trachoma before it gets hold can make a significant difference to people’s lives, especially women. Up to 90 per cent of blind people cannot work, making their poverty worse.”

She added: “The new programme forms part of DFID’s increased focus on disability. It will help thousands of people receive surgery to prevent blindness; see millions of doses of antibiotics distributed, and improve cleanliness to stop the spread of the disease.”