With an estimated 1.3 billion people worldwide living with significant disability – much of which is preventable or treatable – IMPACT's mission remains as urgent today as when it was launched during the UN Decade of Disabled Persons. Operating across Africa and Asia, the charity works with autonomous national partner organisations in countries including Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Kenya, Nepal, and Tanzania to deliver life-changing healthcare and community support.
At the heart of IMPACT's work is its innovative approach to bringing medical care directly to those who need it most. The charity's pioneering method of 'taking the hospital to the people' addresses a stark reality: scant medical facilities in rural areas and lack of funds mean most impoverished people will never receive the treatment they need, leaving them unnecessarily disabled and trapped in hardship for life.
IMPACT's partners operate more than 70 static hospitals and clinics, but it is their mobile healthcare initiatives that truly set the charity apart. The renowned IMPACT India’s Lifeline Express – a fully-equipped hospital train travelling India's vast railway network since 1991 – has delivered hundreds of thousands of free surgeries to restore sight, hearing, and mobility to people in remote communities. In Bangladesh, the Jibon Tari floating hospital navigates the country's extensive waterways, directly benefiting over 50,000 people annually with surgery, screening, and health education.
From cataract operations to restore sight, to procedures repairing cleft lip and treating obstetric fistula, IMPACT's operating theatres transform thousands of lives each year. The charity also invests in training local surgeons, nurses, and health workers – building skills that remain in communities for the long term.
IMPACT Mothers' Clubs empower women across Bangladesh, Cambodia, Nepal, and Kenya with health knowledge, whilst the charity's work extends to safe water provision, sanitation, and nutrition programmes – all integral to preventing disability at its source.
For forty years, IMPACT has proved that practical, community-led action can break the cycle of disability and poverty, giving countless individuals not just restored health, but renewed hope.
Learn more about their work
here.
