Thank you
Photo: Peter Solness
for joining Fred’s team
Together we can restore sight and change lives.
Thank you for believing everyone’s sight is worth saving.
There are 36 million people around the world who are blind.
Yet 4 out of 5 don’t need to be.
Your monthly gift helps us achieve Fred’s dream of ending avoidable blindness. Thank you.
“Every eye is an eye” – Fred Hollows Fred passionately believed every eye is an eye. That no one should be needlessly blind – regardless of who they were, how much money they had or where they lived in the world. Tackling this inequality was his lifetime goal. For more than 25 years now The Fred Hollows Foundation has done just that, thanks to people like you. Thank you for joining the team to end avoidable blindness and continue the work that Fred started so many years ago.
Photo: Michael Amendolia
As you may know, the job isn’t done yet. And your commitment to a
monthly gift will have an incredible impact on the lives of so many. In this booklet, you’ll learn about The Foundation’s work in over 25 countries around the world. Stories from doctors and eye health workers, and the patients who benefit from your donations. There are 36 million people around the world who are blind. And 4 out of 5 of them don’t need to be. There is a lot more to be done but your generous support will make all the difference.
Welcome to The Fred Hollows Foundation.
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You help people see Fred focused his efforts on bringing modern cataract surgery to the developing world. A 20-minute operation can restore sight to someone who is blind like Cesaria.
Photo: Hugh Rutherford
Fred believed that every person, no matter where they live, or how poor they are, should have access to low-cost and high quality eye care. “Good eye service is the right of everybody, not just the wealthy who can afford it.” Whether it is treating cataract, trachoma or diabetic retinopathy, our mission is to bring eye care to where it’s needed most.
Photo: Jonathan Chester/Extreme Images
Fred is pictured here examining a patient in Nepal, alongside Dr Sanduk Ruit, who Fred trained. Today, Dr Ruit performs world-class cataract surgery in some of the most remote communities in the world. He has restored sight to more than 120,000 people.
1,004,975
OUR GLOBAL IMPACT IN ONE YEAR *All results in this booklet are from 2016
Eye operations & treatments including:
147,822 PLUS
cataract operations
3,900,333 people screened
CASE STUDY: BURUNDI
Cesaria’s story Born in Burundi, one of Africa’s poorest nations, with cataract in both eyes, three-year-old Cesaria’s prospects seemed bleak. But then something wonderful happened. Cesaria was found by The Foundation and we quickly arranged for her to be operated on by the
country’s only paediatric eye surgeon. The next day, in her best orange dress, Cesaria started to giggle excitedly as she peeked out from under the patches – a girl who just couldn’t wait to see the world. It’s all thanks to committed supporters like you.
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You invest in people Building local skills has always been, and will always be, at the heart of our work. We are training a workforce and imparting the skills needed to tackle avoidable blindness.
Photos: Michael Amendolia
Fred famously said: “Teach the teachers first, then the teachers can teach others,” and we continue to do so with the help of our partners and supporters like you.
Photo: Michael Amendolia
OUR GLOBAL IMPACT IN ONE YEAR
This principle was so important to Fred that even while he was undergoing cancer treatment in 1992 he travelled to Vietnam to honour his promise to train 300 eye surgeons in modern cataract surgery (pictured).
78,450
people trained including:
272 surgeons health 49,849 community workers
CASE STUDY: CAMBODIA
Dr Sarath’s story
Dr Sarath is only 32 years old but already this beaming and youthful surgeon has made a difference to hundreds of lives. The Fred Hollows Foundation supported his training at the Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology in Nepal. Dr Sarath studied with Dr Sanduk Ruit, who was in turn trained by Fred in the mid-1980s.
One of only 34 eye surgeons in a country of 15 million people, he drives in and out of towns all over Cambodia in an effort to meet the needs of those who struggle to access an eye doctor. Fred would have been pleased that a local surgeon can treat Cambodian patients. But he would have wanted there to be enough eye surgeons to address the needs of this country.
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You provide equipment & technology Your support will provide hospitals, eye clinics and health professionals, in the countries where we work, with high-quality tools and equipment to refer and treat patients.
Photos: Michael Amendolia
Photo: George Fetting
Intraocular lenses (IOLs) are used in sight-restoring surgery to replace cataract-affected natural lenses. Fred’s idea to manufacture low-cost, affordable lenses in developing countries reduced the cost of the lenses and of cataract surgery. Together, the Fred Hollows IOL factories in Eritrea and Nepal have now produced over seven million lenses that have been shipped throughout Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
OUR GLOBAL IMPACT IN ONE YEAR
120 medical facilities built, renovated or equipped
4,466,240 worth of equipment and infrastructure provided
CASE STUDY: THE ARCLIGHT The Foundation has continued Fred’s pioneering spirit by developing the Arclight, a low-cost, solar-powered ophthalmoscope which can examine the structure of an eye. It can be used in lowincome countries to detect signs of blindness. The easy-to-use, pocketsized tool enables users to make decisions in the field and diagnose
patients. At just $10 it performs as well as traditional devices costing up to 100 times as much. Pictured here is Dr Ciku Mathenge, a Foundation-trained surgeon. She is examining nine-year-old Eric from Rwanda. After this Dr Ciku successfully operated to restore Eric’s sight.
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AFGHANISTAN
64,991 people screened
20,982 cataract operations
17M+
ERITREA
ETHIOPIA
people treated with antibiotics for trachoma
1,763
981
PAKISTAN
surgeries to treat trachoma
RWANDA
27,152
cataract operations
cataract operations BURUNDI
KENYA
73,234
eye operations and treatments
10,659 people screened
Your donations support our work in over 25 countries
298,690
NEPAL
eye operations and treatments
CHINA
271,011 eye operations & treatments
1,303
1M+
BANGLADESH
community health workers trained
people screened LAO PDR
VIETNAM
226,685
PHILIPPINES
4,439
3
cataract operations
medical facilities built
TIMOR-LESTE
INDONESIA CAMBODIA
people treated with antibiotics for trachoma
20
community health workers trained
THE PACIFIC
8,077 cataract operations
AUSTRALIA
11,164
people screened
“Every eye is an eye. When you are doing surgery there, that is just as important as if you were doing eye surgery on the Prime Minister or King.” – Fred Hollows 11
You support our work at home With your support and working with partners, we can continue to provide culturally appropriate services for people in remote and underserviced areas in Australia. Following in Fred’s footsteps, our Indigenous Australia Program is determined to close the gap on Indigenous health.
Photo: David Broadbent
In the late 1970s, Fred and his team visited 465 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities on a three-year crusade to treat trachoma in Australia. Fred said “The hard facts are that in an affluent country like this there are incredible pockets of poverty and disease, including eye disease.”
Today, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults are three times more likely to go blind, but 94% of vision loss is preventable or treatable. Our program focuses on education, screening and treatment to reduce these alarming figures.
OUR IMPACT IN AUSTRALIA IN ONE YEAR
11,164 1,260 340
people screened last year eye operations and treatments supported
people trained
CASE STUDY : AUSTRALIA
Tracey’s story
Tracey was a young woman in the late 1970s when she had her eyes examined by Fred Hollows in Broome, Western Australia. Fast forward 40 years, and Tracey had a cataract removed thanks to The Fred Hollows Foundation’s partnership with The Lions Eye Institute.
“I didn’t know much about him,” Tracey said. “Then I heard he was the one who travelled the world and he became very well-known. I couldn’t believe he was the doctor man who checked our eyes.” And even more incredible is that his legacy fixed her eyes all these years later.
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You help tackle blinding trachoma Trachoma is the leading cause of infectious blindness in the world. It poses a risk to 229 million people living in dry, dusty, povertystricken areas.
Photo: Michael Amendolia
Fred’s determination to address trachoma began with the National Trachoma and Eye Health Program in Australia. Then in the late 1980s, Fred flew to Eritrea to understand the eye health context there. He found trachoma amongst people of all ages, a consequence of the lack of clean accessible water.
Photo: Peter Solness
OUR GLOBAL IMPACT IN ONE YEAR
Fred saw the need in east Africa for more training and increased awareness of eye health. Today, The Foundation continues his work, identifying where trachoma exists around the world and working with our partners to eliminate it, including right here in Australia.
18,585,866 49,817
people treated with antibiotics for trachoma
surgeries to treat trachoma
CASE STUDY : ETHIOPIA Ethiopia has the highest burden of blinding trachoma in the world. More than 25 million people in the Oromia region are living in trachoma endemic areas. Left untreated, the eyelids turn inwards, causing excruciating pain and eventually leading to permanent blindness. Access to antibiotics, water, sanitation and education are key to eliminating this eye disease. Since 2013, The Foundation has
undergone a massive scale-up to help tackle this problem. Your support will help save the sight of mothers like Shashetu (pictured left). Her eye condition had been causing her pain for over a year, and both her children had trachoma. Kebede, who was trained by The Foundation, operated on Shashetu. With her sight restored she is no longer in pain and able to care for her family.
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You will make long-lasting change to people like Giap In 1992 Fred was undergoing cancer treatment but he left his hospital bed to honour a promise: to train 300 eye surgeons in modern cataract surgery techniques in Vietnam. On that last trip, he met a young boy, Tran Van Giap, who was in danger of going blind from a serious eye injury. Fred’s team operated on Giap and were able to save his sight. Nearly 25 years later, it’s clear to see how eye surgery changed his life. He seized the opportunity to rise out of poverty, received a university education, graduated as a maths teacher and is now a father of two children. Giap describes his experience as “winning the lottery”. He said “If I couldn’t see, if I couldn’t read, I would not have been able to become a teacher.” “When the patients have their eyes
Right: Gabi Hollows visiting Giap in 2016. Photo: Michael Amendolia
restored they can change their destiny and do whatever they want,” Giap said. “I have a different life, a happy wife and a happy family”. Giap’s story puts a face to all the numbers. Every person we help has their life changed for the better. You don’t need words to understand the joy of someone who has just had their sight restored. It is an unspoken thing. They give you the biggest smile, a massive grin. You can sense the magic of knowing that their whole life is about to change. Every month you will transform the lives of people like Giap. Thank you,
Gabi Hollows AO Founding Director
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Our promise to you ✔ Fred believed in spending money where it’s needed most. We will use your donations to fund sight-saving operations, train eye surgeons and eye-health workers and build new clinics. ✔ We look forward to regularly sharing stories with you from patients, eye health workers and other beneficiaries of your generosity from around the world.
Where does your money go? *In 2016
✔ We are dedicated to providing you with the highest level of supporter care. If you ever want to talk about the work you are supporting or have feedback, questions or concerns please reach out to us on 1800 352 352 or everyeye@hollows.org ✔ We respect and value your privacy and your wishes for how we communicate with you. For more information visit our website at www.hollows.org/au/privacysecurity ✔ We promise to use your ongoing monthly contributions effectively and will always share how we have used your donations to help keep Fred’s vision alive.
Sight-saving programs and community education
76%
How the program money was spent 12%
Indigenous Australia
18% 6%
Africa
45%
Fundraising investment
South East Asia
20%
South Asia
17%
operating expenses < 1% Middle East
5% Pacific Region
Photo: Michael Amendolia
Cambodian mother, Thol, sees her baby son for the first time thanks to a sight-saving cataract operation.
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Some supporters choose to include The Fred Hollows Foundation in their Will. If you would like to consider leaving a gift in your Will, please contact us for more information by email bequest@hollows.org or phone 1800 352 352 to speak directly with our Relationship Manager.
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Everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sight is worth saving
Photo: Hugh Rutherford
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