The Pacific region has over 80,000 needlessly blind and 240,000 with very poor vision.  Cataract accounts for over 50% of all blindness.  The high levels of blindness and low vision are due the large distances people must travel to access eye care services, with small populations spread over large tracts of ocean, very low numbers of eye doctors and nurses available to provide treatment, and severe under-resourcing of eye clinics and equipment.

In 2002, The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ commenced the Pacific Regional Blindness Prevention Program to tackle avoidable blindness in the Pacific. This program is a training initiative supporting eye health programs throughout the Pacific and includes extensive country programs in Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste, on-going support in Vanuatu and the Cook Islands and a training facililty, the Pacific Eye Institute, based centrally in Fiji.

Under the leadership of Dr John Szetu, who completed a successful five year eye program in Vanuatu with the support of The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ, the Pacific Eye Institute trains Pacific eye doctors and eye nurses using postgraduate year-long courses specifically designed to meet the needs of Pacific communities. Find out more.