Five years of consecutive growth have led to over 784,000 people receiving sight-restoring eye operations in 18 countries, as revealed from The Fred Hollows Foundation's results for 2010.

"These results move us even closer to achieving Fred's dream - and it couldn't be done without the generosity of our supporters," said The Foundation's CEO Brian Doolan.

Five years ago, The Foundation launched an ambitious roadmap to move closer to achieving Fred's goals of improving Indigenous health and ending avoidable blindness globally.

"As we have now come to the end of our five year strategic framework, it is important to take stock of what has been achieved," Doolan said.

In the last five years The Foundation has:
  • Supported 784,378 sight-saving eye operations and treatments
  • Supported training for 31,121 medical and support staff
  • Looked into the eyes of 6,614,085 people
  • Provided $10,131,837 of medical equipment
  • Built or upgraded 119 eye health facilities
  • Expanded to work in more than 55 Indigenous communities.

The Foundation's updated yearly results show that in 2010 alone, 12,961 eye health workers were trained, 1.3 million people were screened, over $3.4 million was spent on vital medical equipment and 194,903 people received sight-restoring surgery.

A highlight of these results is The Foundation's continued focus on increasing levels of training for eye health staff in countries where we work.

"Continued growth in this area is particularly pleasing as training was such a strong focus of Fred's," Doolan said.

"Teaching local health workforces how to strengthen their own eye health systems is what sustainable development is all about - and this of course was one of Fred's core beliefs.

"The story doesn't end here. In the years ahead, the results of our training drive will multiply, as those trained go on to teach literally thousands of others to restore sight.

"The numbers and statistics we see in yearly updates like this are a good indication of activity, but more than that, they reflect the many lives that have been improved forever thanks to the generosity of Australians."

> Learn more about the latest results in The Foundation's 2010 Annual Report.