Photo courtesy of Jacky Ghossein

Achievements

Great results for 2007

  • Performed 143,759 eye operations – up from 73,838 in 2006
  • Provided eye care for over 1.2 million people
  • Trained 3,284 eye health workers
  • Supplied over $1.3 million worth of essential medical equipment
  • Completed substantial upgrade or construction of 17 eye health centres

15 years of achievement

  • Restored sight to over 1,000,000 people
  • Pioneered modern techniques of cataract surgery
  • Reduced cost of cataract surgery to as little as $25 in some developing countries
  • Set up independent and commercially successful intraocular lens (IOL) laboratories in Nepal and Eritrea
  • The laboratories export to more than 50 countries and have produced over 3 million sight-saving lenses
  • Price of IOLs reduced from over $100 to just $8
  • Worked in over 30 countries worldwide, with new programs recently launched in places such as North Korea and Rwanda
  • 2008 winner of the Givewell Good Giving Australian Charity Award 'Best Practice not-for-profit’
  • Winner of the National Award for Excellence in Community Business Partnerships in recognition of the successful partnership between The Foundation, Woolworths and the Wugularr community for the Community Stores Program
  • Foundation friend and partner, Dr Sanduk Ruit, appointed an honorary Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for ground-breaking work overcoming avoidable blindness
  • Worked with partners to develop new technology for the developing world, delivering innovative solutions through specifically designed lathes, lasers and microscopes