Philanthropy

Need for eye care is growing faster than many health systems can respond.

More than 1.1 billion people live with vision loss that is preventable or treatable, and that number is projected to rise significantly by 2050. Population growth, ageing and increasing rates of chronic disease are all contributing factors.

While many eye conditions can be treated effectively, access remains limited because services are often underfunded, concentrated in urban centres, or constrained by workforce shortages and weak referral systems.

Strengthening health systems now is critical if countries are to keep pace with future demand.

The Fred Hollows Foundation works alongside governments and local partners to strengthen the systems that make eye care possible.

This includes supporting workforce development, improving service delivery models, strengthening referral pathways, enhancing data systems and contributing to national planning.

Our aim is to help build eye health systems that can deliver high-quality care at scale, sustainably and equitably, through national institutions rather than ongoing external delivery.

Restoring sight through surgery remains central to our work. But lasting impact requires more than treating individual patients one at a time.

In many countries, the core challenge is not that cataract surgery is unavailable as a medical intervention. It is that health systems do not yet have the workforce, infrastructure, referral pathways or financing needed to deliver that care consistently and at scale.

Funding individual surgeries can change lives immediately, but on its own it does not solve the underlying barriers that prevent millions of others from accessing care.

That is why The Fred Hollows Foundation focuses on strengthening the systems behind eye care, while continuing to support service delivery where needed. This includes training health workers, improving hospital capacity, strengthening referral networks, supporting government planning and embedding eye health into national health systems.

Our goal is not simply to fund more surgeries today. It is to help build systems capable of delivering millions more over time, long after our direct involvement ends.

Yes. Supporting access to direct eye care services remains an important part of our work, particularly where unmet need is high or health systems are not yet able to meet demand.

Where appropriate, we combine direct service delivery with system-strengthening efforts so immediate patient care contributes to stronger long-term capacity.

Philanthropy provides the flexible funding needed to invest in the parts of system reform that are often hardest to finance through traditional funding streams.

This includes early-stage innovation, service redesign, workforce development, policy and advocacy work, and the systems improvements required to scale proven models.

It also allows The Foundation to act earlier, move faster and respond strategically when opportunities for scale emerge.

The Foundation is currently prioritising scaled eye health investment in Laos PDR, Rwanda and Ethiopia, with potential expansion into Cambodia and Kenya as funding grows.

These countries have been identified based on a combination of significant unmet eye health need, strong government commitment, established partnerships and a realistic pathway to system-wide scale.

We focus our investment where there is both substantial need and a credible opportunity to strengthen national eye health systems for long-term impact.

Australia remains an important part of The Fred Hollows Foundation’s work, particularly through our support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander eye health.

Although Australia has a strong health system overall, avoidable blindness and vision loss persists in some communities due to inequitable access, workforce shortages and service delivery gaps, particularly in regional and remote areas.

Our work in Australia focuses on strengthening culturally safe, community-led eye health systems and contributing to the elimination of avoidable blindness and trachoma among First Nations communities.

This reflects the same core approach we apply globally: working with partners to strengthen systems so care reaches the people who need it most.

Trachoma remains the leading infectious cause of blindness globally and continues to affect some of the world’s most underserved communities, despite being entirely preventable.

Eliminating trachoma requires sustained, coordinated effort across surgery, antibiotics, hygiene promotion and environmental health, often in settings where broader health systems are weakest.

The Fred Hollows Foundation maintains a dedicated focus on trachoma because it remains one of the most achievable and high-impact opportunities in global eye health. With sustained investment, elimination as a public health problem is within reach in a growing number of countries.

Our trachoma work also strengthens the underlying systems and community health structures that support broader eye health and public health outcomes.

We work in partnership with ministries of health, public hospitals, professional associations and local organisations to strengthen national eye health systems.

This can include supporting workforce development, improving service planning, strengthening referral and data systems, and helping integrate eye care into broader public health and universal health coverage agendas.

Governments lead these systems. Our role is to support and strengthen them.

The Foundation has more than 30 years of experience working in eye health and longstanding relationships with governments, clinicians and local partners across our portfolio.

We combine technical expertise in eye health with practical experience in health system strengthening and program delivery.

Importantly, we work through locally led partnerships and national systems, which positions us to support sustainable change rather than parallel service delivery.

Your support helps countries scale proven, cost‑effective solutions that transform lives and strengthen national health systems. Cataract treatment alone delivers exceptional value, returning an average of US$28 for every dollar invested. Philanthropy accelerates this impact, protects progress already made, and helps countries reach people who would otherwise be left behind.

We track both service delivery outcomes and system-strengthening indicators to understand whether eye health systems are improving over time.

This includes measures such as service coverage, workforce growth, surgical productivity, quality indicators and equity of access.

We provide regular reporting to major supporters and use data to continuously refine our approach.

Long-term success means countries have eye health systems capable of delivering quality care at scale through their own workforce, institutions and financing mechanisms.

In practical terms, that means more people can access care when they need it, regardless of geography or income, without ongoing dependence on external delivery partners.

74% of expenditure supports program delivery and long-term eye health work across the countries where we operate.

The remaining funding supports the operational, governance and fundraising functions required to deliver programs effectively, manage risk, maintain accountability and grow future impact.

We believe strong organisations require strong infrastructure, and responsible stewardship of donor funding includes investing in both.