Tag term summary

  • Fourfold return on every $1 spent restoring sight

    The results of a landmark study show the economic benefits of eliminating avoidable blindness in developing countries outweigh the costs by a factor of four to one. This means that for every dollar invested in preventing someone from going blind, more than four dollars is returned in economic terms.

  • May 2013: Quarterly Report

    In this issue: An incredible story of transformation for a boy called Jean, a profile of our work in Rwanda, and The Foundation ranked in the Top 50 non-government organisations globally.

  • Bob Carr launches new study into cost and benefits of ending blindness

    Australia’s Foreign Minister, Senator Bob Carr today launched the results of a landmark study into the cost and benefits of ending avoidable blindness throughout the world.

  • Jean

    Special report by Brian Doolan, CEO Rwanda: When we first met 12-year-old Jean, he told us he didn’t know how to laugh or smile. Born with blinding cataract in both eyes, he’d been deprived of an independent and active childhood.

  • New Vision Centre tackles childhood blindness in rural China

    The Foundation has supported the construction of a new eye centre in China that will focus on preventing vision loss in children. The new Vision Centre in Yunnan Province will reach a population of half a million people in Lancang County where rates of vision impairment are high. With support from The Foundation two local doctors have recieved special paediatric training, as 17 per cent of Lancang’s population is under the age of 15.

  • Investing in Vision

    February 2013: PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has released the fourth, and final, report in the series commissioned by The Fred Hollows Foundation to calculate the costs and benefits of achieving the VISION 2020 goal of eliminating avoidable blindness by the year 2020.

  • Hieu

    Hieu’s mother was told her bright, funny, cheeky little boy would soon be completely blind. See what happened...

  • Hieu

    Special report by Brian Doolan, CEO Vietnam: Hieu was born with cataracts in both eyes. It left him almost completely blind – he couldn’t see anything more than a metre away.

  • New eye patient records system will minimise treatment delays

    A new Foundation-funded patient information system being rolled out in Kenya means people like Joy will have a better chance of getting treatment.

  • Eliminating childhood blindness in Vietnam

    With The Foundation's support, 183 essential eye surgeries and treatments were performed on children in Vietnam. As a result of recent screenings in the country’s central and southern provinces, 124 operations and treatments for children from Binh Dinh and 59 treatments for children from Phu Yen were performed in eye hospitals recently built or upgraded with funding from The Foundation and our partner The Atlantic Philanthropies.

  • Slideshow: A year in pictures

    In this photo slideshow we bring together some amazing pictures of our sight restoring work around the world. Captured by some of Australia's best-known photographers, these images represent the many thousands of people our supporters helped last year. > View slideshow > Find out more about our sight restoring work around the world.

  • The Foundation restores sight in Cambodia

    Fourteen-year-old Din is one of thousands of Cambodians who have received sight-restoring surgery supported by The Fred Hollows Foundation and the Australian Government. 1,123 sight-restoring operations performed at the Kampong Speu Eye Unit in 2011 Din was born with cataracts. He is the youngest son of a rice farmer and one of seven children. Over the years, his cataracts developed and by the age of 10, Din’s vision was so poor he could only see one metre ahead.

  • Tania's sight is restored

    At five years of age, Tania had developed a cataract in her right eye - by the time she was 10, she was blind in both eyes. Her family’s lack of financial resources meant Tania was deprived of treatment she desperately needed. Approximately 40,000 children in Bangladesh are blind - 12,000 cases due to cataract Tania stopped going to school and had started losing contact with friends, becoming increasingly isolated due to her blindness.

  • 80,000 children screened in Pakistan

    The Foundation is working to ensure debilitating eye conditions are detected and treated early so children are not disadvantaged during their school years due to poor vision.

  • May 2012: Quarterly Report

    In this issue: Joy returns to one Kenyan family, 2011 highlights from the field, a special report from Pakistan, and Giap '20 years on' by journalist Miranda Devine. > Download: Quarterly Report

  • Orphan children helped in Pakistan

    The Fred Hollows Foundation has supported an eye screening camp for hundreds of orphan children in Islamabad, Pakistan.

  • Joy

    Special report by Brian Doolan, CEO Kenya: Share in this incredible moment – the moment that Joy was reunited with her mother, after life-changing surgery to restore her sight.

  • Cambodia: A lesson to save sight

    The Fred Hollows Foundation has announced a partnership with Cambodia’s Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, to create the country’s first ever eye health education plan for primary schools.

  • Childhood blindness in Pakistan

    Big steps are being taken in eliminating childhood blindness in Pakistan through The Fred Hollows Foundation's support of the work of Mayo Eye Hospital in Lahore.

  • Help for child victims of Afghan war

    The Fred Hollows Foundation is helping provide emergency eye care to children of Afghanistan injured during February's storm of protests over the recent burning of the Koran at a US army base. Shabnam, a 15-year-old girl from Kabul, lost the sight in her right eye when hit by a stray bullet from a passing protester while hanging washing on her roof.  

  • Children from slums given the chance of a better life

    With The Foundation's support, 979 children have been screened for vision problems in Bangladesh, with 242 receiving much-needed spectacles. The children are from the slum community at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in Dhaka, and were screened as part of the Foundation-funded Childhood Blindness Prevention Program.  

  • Children and eye disease

    A blind child in a developing country faces a lifetime of hardship. The World Health Organization has noted that more than half of children who become blind will die within a year or two, often from the diseases which made them blind. Children who are blind suffer profound social, economic and personal hardship, and so do their families.

  • Kipar

    When we first met with Kipar, our team was stunned by how dirty he was. Then we realised. The reason Kipar was grubby isn’t because he's not loved. He is, deeply. Born with bilateral cataracts, Kipar was dirty because there was no way he could walk the 10 km to the nearest water to wash himself. The fact that Kipar was still alive is a credit to his family's care. With the help of our supporters, Kipar travelled to the Foundation-supported Nakuru Eye Clinic for surgery. Moments after his eye patches were removed, Kipar examined his own face in the mirror.

  • Jet - Shine on for Fred Hollows

    A video tribute (full version) to Australian eye surgeon Fred Hollows, featuring music by Jet. Thank you to Jet and all The Fred Hollows Foundation's supporters for helping Fred's work to shine on.

  • New eye unit brings hope in Pakistan

    A new eye unit built by The Fred Hollows Foundation is allowing doctors to reach out to more children and adults in one of the world’s most challenging regions, and to treat their eye conditions before it is too late. The facility is in northern Pakistan and boosts existing services at Hayatabad Medical Complex, a large, busy hospital in the city of Peshawar. The unit’s focus is helping children with serious eye conditions and detecting and treating diabetic retinopathy in adults before the damage becomes irreversible.

  • December 2011: Quarterly Report

    In this issue: Help arrives just in time for brave little H'Nhi, and an inspiring interview with Dr Phuong, who received paediatric surgical training with the help of our supporters. > Download: Quarterly Report

  • H’Nhi

  • H’Nhi

    Vietnam: When five-year-old H'Nhi was just a baby learning to crawl, her mother noticed something was wrong. “There was something white inside her eyes,” she remembers. H’Nhi’s mother was afraid, and heartbroken that something should be wrong with her baby, her only girl in a family of boys.

  • Sight restored to 65 children in Vietnam

    Sixty-five children had their sight restored in central Vietnam through the Foundation-supported Sight For Children program. The surgical intensive coincided with the Vietnamese school holidays, when hundreds of children are screened for a range of eye diseases. A week of free surgeries follow. The Sight For Children program operates in Phu Yen and Binh Dinh provinces and represents a significant proportion of the childhood blindness work supported by The Foundation in Vietnam.

  • Zeineb

    Fred Hollows spent the last years of his life working to restore sight in Eritrea, Africa. It was a country close to Fred's heart and The Fred Hollows Foundation is proud to be carrying on his work. This video tells the story of three year old Zeineb, who was born with cataracts in both eyes. Thanks to The Foundation's supporters and the work of local doctors, Zeineb's life has been changed forever.

  • Restoring sight and dignity

    In recognition of International Women's Day 2011, The Foundation released this video showing how blindness affects people in the developing world. Young girls in particular often have to sacrifice their education to care for a blind family member. The Fred Hollows Foundation's goal is to restore sight and dignity one eye operation at a time, and we couldn't do it without your support. Thank you.

  • Samuel

    Samuel loves the sound of his mother singing to him. Her songs are important to him, because this little boy was born blind. His mother's voice is like a precious gift cutting through the darkness. This video shows Samuel's journey to have his sight restored through the work of The Fred Hollows Foundation.

  • Phan

    Special report by Brian Doolan, CEOCambodia: Phan was eleven when his eyes “started to go funny”. Three years later he couldn't see the blackboard at school. Sight restoring surgery means he can get an education and has hope for a better future.

  • 38,000 school children screened in Pakistan

    More than 38,000 children have been screened for debilitating eye conditions just six months into a trial targeting Pakistan’s most challenging regions.  This is the first year of a two-year trial, which will see thousands of students at primary schools screened for refractive error (the need for glasses) in the districts of Peshawar in the north and Nowshero-Feroz and Turbat in the south.

  • Samuel

      Special report by Brian Doolan, CEORwanda: Find out how The Foundation restored sight to this little boy and renewed his family’s hope for a better future.  

  • Ending avoidable blindness

    Fred Hollows had a vision of ending avoidable blindness. With the help of our partners and supporters, The Foundation is working to make Fred’s vision a reality. An estimated 39 million people around the world today are blind. Four out of five don't have to be.

  • A happy childhood for Haris

    Asghar Ali was so fearful of his son Haris being ridiculed by others due to his lazy left eye that he kept him away from school. Asghar's fears were not unfounded. He once caught his neighbour calling Haris "Kana", meaning ‘one eyed person'. Although he stood up for his son against anyone who would label him with such hurtful names, Asghar knew he could not protect him from stigmatisation for the rest of his life.

  • Boy has sight restored after 11 years

    A boy called Him was one of the youngest patients to have his sight restored at an outreach eye camp in remote Nepal recently. Him, 11, was born with cataracts. His poor vision made life a misery, particularly at school. His mother Masino learnt that The Fred Hollows Foundation's Nepal partner Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology would be holding an eye clinic near their home in central Nepal, at Kalika Community Hospital, Rasuwa. The news brought hope that her son might see for the first time.

  • Zeineb

      Special report by Brian Doolan, CEO Eritrea: Born with cataracts in both eyes, 3-year-old Zeineb was almost totally blind. See how Fred’s work in Eritrea is continuing, as sight and hope is restored to one young girl.  

  • My Linh

    Special report by Brian Doolan, CEO Vietnam: My Linh can see well enough to go to school again thanks to The Foundation’s special 'Sight for Children' program in Vietnam.

  • Kipar

    Special report by Brian Doolan, CEOKENYA: Blind since birth, the fact that Kipar is still alive is a credit to his family’s care.  

  • Chien

    Special report by Brian Doolan, CEO Vietnam: When we first met Chien, he was peeking through a gap in the wall of his grandfather's house. Condemned to a life in the shadows Born with cataract in his left eye, this sad little five-year-old boy could not bear to be exposed to light – it gave him too much pain.

  • Malo

    Special report by Brian Doolan, CEOVietnam: The accepted wisdom in medical circles is that a child born with cataracts should be treated before reaching seven years of age. After seven, it is less likely the brain will respond to signals from the eyes. Malo is nine. A miracle in Vietnam I was in Vietnam with a team from The Foundation when I met Malo.

  • Lmesinae

    Kenya: Lmesinae had cataracts in both eyes and would probably have spent the rest of his life in an institution, with no future, and no hope. Sight restoring surgery changed his life. Twelve-year-old Lmesinae lives in a remote part of Kenya, many hours drive from the nearest town. His village is a semi-permanent collection of mud huts, with a token fence to keep the animals off the rare scraps of vegetation.

  • Sammy

    Eritrea: This is a story about a little boy named Sammy. Sammy lives in Eritrea, one of the poorest countries in the world, perched on the edge of the Red Sea in the northernmost corner of Africa.

  • Hare and Mina

    Hare and his sister Mina had never seen the faces of their parents. The children were eight and four years old and both of them were blind in both eyes from birth, as a result of cataracts. Hare and Mina live in the remote town of Khadga Bhanjyang in the Nuwakot District, seven hours precarious drive from Kathmandu through mountainous country in the foothills of the Himalayas.

  • Cataract

    People who are blind from cataract generally have a severe reduction in their personal and economic quality of life and even die prematurely because of their blindness.  

  • Malo

    Special report by Brian Doolan, CEO Vietnam: The accepted wisdom in medical circles is that a child born with cataracts should be treated before reaching seven years of age. After seven, it is less likely the brain will respond to signals from the eyes. Malo is nine. I must tell you about Malo I was in Vietnam with a team from The Foundation when I met Malo.