CARE FOR RETINOBLASTOMA CHILDREN

 

K.D. Feddersen Nominated for the German Chamber of Commerce's More than a Market Awards for the Project Caring for Children with Retinoblastoma.

 

On May 31, 2018, the German Chamber of Commerce in China (Shanghai) and the Bertelsmann Foundation hosted the dinner party for More than a Market Awards 2018. K.D. Feddersen was invited to the event as one of the nominated German enterprises.

 

The More than a Market Awards was created as an initiative to encourage and promote social engagement among German companies in China. The initiative was first launched in 2015 by the German Chamber of Commerce in China (Shanghai) and the Bertelsmann Foundation, with support from the German Consulate General in Shanghai, and further extended to cover the entire country in 2017. By establishing deep roots in the community, the initiative aims to improve the reputation of German companies working in China and establish stronger connections and partnerships between German and Chinese organisations and the public.

 

More than three times as many social projects were submitted for this year's awards as for the first year's awards in 2016. The independent expert committee made up of Chinese and German members evaluated the submissions based on impact, relevance, creativity, transferability, and sustainability, and finally nominated 31 projects, including K.D. Feddersen's Care for Retinoblastoma Children.

 

K.D. Feddersen began working with the Care for Retinoblastoma Children Foundation, the first of its kind in China, in November, 2017. The company has funded the eye treatments for five children at Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital.

 

Please read the information below for more details on the project.

 

SOCIAL CHALLENGES

Retinoblastoma is a form of cancer that develops from immature cells in the retina, the eye’s light-detecting tissue. It is almost exclusively found in children younger than five years of age. If detected early on, it is very treatable and, given the right medical conditions, about 95 percent of children with the disease can be cured. If, however, the disease is not detected early or if treatment is not available, it inevitably proves fatal. Retinoblastoma is relatively rare, occurring in about one in every 20,000 births. There are some 5,000 to 8,000 cases per year worldwide. Since China has the globe’s largest population, it also has the largest number of children with retinoblastoma – about one-fifth to one-sixth of all cases worldwide. In China, many families cannot afford the cost of medical treatment when a child is born with the disease, which means the child is fated to suffer blindness and death. The challenge is therefore to provide support and timely medical care for these families.