Celebrating 30 Years

Celebrating 30 years of restoring sight

30 years ago, Fred Hollows captured the hearts of people across Australia with his vision of helping people see, no matter who they were and where they lived. His vision led to The Fred Hollows Foundation which has now restored sight to more than 3 million people and has become a global leader in eye health.

The Foundation works around the world so that no one is left behind and in Australia we work tirelessly to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples can always exercise their right to sight, good health and self-determination. Today, Fred’s vision has become a global legacy.

Our impact

Since 2018, The Foundation has developed new ways to measure the impact of our work by estimating the cases of blindness and vision impairment we have helped to avert and calculating the years of sight saved.

Over the past five years, The Foundation has improved or protected the sight of more than 800,000 people and saved almost 6.5 million years of sight.

Meet some of our people

Tran Van Giap
Former patient of Fred’s

“I believe I have two dads – my father and Fred. They are the reason I can now see and be the main character in this famous story.”

. . .

Associate Professor Dr Kris Rallah-Baker
Yuggera/Biri-Gubba-Juru man and Australia’s first and only First Nations ophthalmologist

“Fred Hollows was a true ally and an advocate of self determination. He understood that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples needed to be front and centre of efforts to improve eye health.”

. . .

Dr Zareen Khair
Former Bangladesh Country Manager

“The Foundation lets you work freely and to think outside the box and this has allowed us to deliver innovative programs to restore sight to some of the most vulnerable people in Bangladesh.”

How we work

The Foundation is unique in its approach. We not only support treating patients, but we focus on strengthening health systems, equipping hospitals, training eye health teams and working with health authorities and other partners to empower local people to deliver local services.

The Foundation is also a leading international voice advocating for more investment and focus on eye health. We are proud of our record of training future generations of eye doctors, building local eye health capacity, driving innovation and advocating for the integration of eye health in national health systems.

Watch the video below to see Gabi Hollows and Fred and Gabi’s daughter Ruth share their reflections on The Fred Hollows Foundation’s 30 years of restoring sight.

30 Year Anniversary