Tag term summary

  • Hieu

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

  • November 2012: Quarterly Report

    In this issue: How your support changed Hieu's life, eliminating childhood blindness in Vietnam, and fast tracking trachoma treatment in Africa. > DOWNLOAD Quarterly Report

  • 20 years of saving sight in Vietnam

    The man who introduced Professor Fred Hollows to eye health in Vietnam has spoken about the late surgeon’s urgency to get things done, whilst battling cancer on his first visit to Vietnam in 1992. Commemorating 20 years of The Foundation’s work in Vietnam, Professor Nguyten Trong Nhan, Chair of the Vietnamese National Ophthalmology Association and former Minister for Health, said he believed this urgency drove Fred to achieve so much for his country prior to his death in early 1993.

  • 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 hospital for Hue

    Through the support of The Foundation a new multi-storey eye hospital has opened in Hue, Vietnam. The facility services a population of well over one million people from the surrounding region. Up to 200 outpatients and 100 inpatients can be diagnosed, treated and accommodated each day in the new hospital. 

  • Asia: Work with us

    The Fred Hollows Foundation is a successful and well respected International Development Organisation.  We are committed to supporting employment opportunities for local people within the countries where we work.  Before applying for a position with us, please ensure you have the appropriate eligibility to work. We appreciate the time every applicant takes to express their interest in working at The Foundation and have included some additional information to assist you with your application.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 881 orphans screened in Vietnam

    Eye screenings supported by The Fred Hollows Foundation in seven Vietnamese orphanages have brought a ray of hope to some of the country’s most vulnerable children.  In Ho Chi Minh City, 881 orphans were tested recently for refractive error (the need for glasses). The mass screening occurs annually. "Living without the support of family, these children are amongst the most vulnerable in Vietnam and life can be a struggle at the best of times," said The Foundation's CEO Brian Doolan.

  • Keeping Fred's dream alive

    The late Professor Fred Hollows spent most of his life working to end avoidable blindness and to improve the health of Indigenous Australians. Fred and Gabi Hollows and friends set up The Fred Hollows Foundation in 1992 so his work would continue, and we take our lead from Fred.

  • The Foundation

    The Fred Hollows Foundation is a lean and independent, non-profit, secular organisation that was started by Fred and Gabi Hollows and friends the year before he died. The Foundation has worked in over 40 countries around the world and with Indigenous communities in remote parts of Australia, and continues to be inspired by Fred’s lifelong endeavour to end avoidable blindness and improve Indigenous health.

  • Overseas

    In 1985, as a consultant to the World Health Organization, Fred visited Nepal, Burma, Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh on short-term assignments. Two years later he visited war-torn Eritrea and saw doctors operating in hospitals dug into mountains as the war raged above. These experiences had a huge effect on Fred and, in line with his basic belief in “equity between people”, he started to work towards reducing the cost of eye health care and treatment in developing countries.

  • Vietnam

    "It was only me in 1992,” says Dr Pham Binh, one of the first doctors in Vietnam to be trained by Fred Hollows. Since then The Foundation has helped train and equip hundreds of doctors to perform modern cataract surgery in Vietnam. Overview Treatment of cataract blindness has come a long way in Vietnam since Professor Fred Hollows visited in 1992 to introduce modern surgical training and techniques.

  • 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.

  • Governor-General witnesses sight restoration in Vietnam

    Governor-General Quentin Bryce has visited Hue Eye Hospital in Central Vietnam to see firsthand how a partnership between the Australian people and The Fred Hollows Foundation is restoring sight to thousands of Vietnamese.  

  • 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.

  • Giap

    In 1992 Tran Van Giap was seven years old. The little boy had extremely poor vision in one eye. Giap’s father, a Vietnamese war veteran who worked as a farmer in one of the country's poorest rural areas, took him to Hanoi by train to seek help.

  • 50-bed eye hospital opens in Phu Yen

    Thousands of people in rural Vietnam will have their sight restored thanks to a new eye hospital in Phu Yen Province which opened its doors this month. Phu Yen Eye Hospital will serve around 44,000 patients per year from the rice-growing province, and surrounding areas. The Foundation constructed the hospital – the first in the region - with support from partner Atlantic Philanthropies and the Vietnam Government.

  • Happiness of a young mother

    When young mother Hoang Thi Ly learnt that her three-year-old daughter Lien’s sight was impaired because of cataract, she was torn apart. Her heart was broken by the news, especially as she was pregnant with her second child. Ly was scared for Lien's future, and the difficult journey that lay ahead for her beloved child.   

  • Thomas Keneally remembers Fred

    This month marks 18 years since the world lost Fred Hollows. One of his closest friends, the Australian author Thomas Keneally, pays tribute to the professor’s work and fighting spirit. “Fred was the toughest and most morally impelled man I’ve ever met,” says Keneally. “To travel to difficult regions, areas which only the healthy should venture to, and to do so while suffering from a terminal illness, and then stand up for the good with all the force of a super-hero - well, I’ve never met anyone else who could do that.

  • Foundation awarded for fighting poverty in Vietnam

    The Foundation's work to help eliminate poverty has been honoured with a special award in Vietnam. Vietnam Country Manager Dr Huynh Tan Phuc accepted a Certificate of Merit at a ceremony in Hanoi recently, acknowledging the contribution of The Foundation's eye health programs to economic development in Vietnam. The award was presented by the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations, the government body overseeing international development agencies.

  • Fellowship strengthens ties with overseas eye health workers

    With the announcement of The Fred Hollows Foundation Fellowship recipients for 2011, The Foundation is continuing the commitment Fred made to train young eye doctors, encouraging them to participate in ophthalmology outside academic institutions.

  • 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.

  • Floods delay the delivery of eye care services in Central Vietnam

    An intensive eye camp set to occur in Central Vietnam's Quang Binh Province has been delayed due to devastating floods which have killed at least 44 people, with a further 16 missing in that region alone. Andy Nilsen from The Fred Hollows Foundation was caught up in the floods as he travelled to the eye camp, which would have restored sight to around 40 people. "The entire region looked like a great lake," Nilsen said.

  • World Sight Day 2010 - Vietnam

    On World Sight Day 2010, The Fred Hollows Foundation in Vietnam is screening around 33,000 school students for refractive error in Cu Chi and Hoc Mon districts, in Ho Chi Minh City. The Foundation is also conducting eye examinations and providing medicine for treatment to more than 3,000 people from 11 project provinces.

  • Training more eye doctors in Vietnam

    A new project in Vietnam will help address a shortage of eye doctors in the north and central regions of the country and provide treatment to patients unable to afford surgery. The Fred Hollows Foundation, together with US non-profit organisation, The Atlantic Philanthropies, will provide US$2 million to the Vietnam National Institute of Ophthalmology (VNIO), one of the country's key training centres.

  • The Foundation awarded for work in Vietnam

    The Foundation has received an important award from the Government of Vietnam for its work in helping eliminate avoidable blindness in the country. The award, named the Golden Cup for Community Development in Vietnam, recognises individuals and organisations and honours their contribution to poverty reduction and community development. It is the fifth time this award has been granted in Vietnam since 2004 and The Foundation is one of 11 international non government organisations (NGOs) to receive it in 2010.

  • Foundation expands Childhood Blindness work in Vietnam

    A major new Fred Hollows Foundation Childhood Blindness program for Vietnam has been launched in Hanoi by the Deputy Prime Minister, Nguyen Thien Nhan. The Vietnam Childhood Blindness Prevention Project, funded by Standard Chartered Bank, will run over three years and target children (aged up to 15) in 20 districts of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Launching the project at the Hanoi Eye Hospital, the Deputy Prime Minister said that for everyone, their eyes are of very special importance – with 80% of the information people receive being  through vision.