Against this backdrop, the first-ever Global Summit for Eye Health, to be held on 2 November 2026, represents a landmark opportunity to transform the future of eye health.
Hosted by the Government of Antigua and Barbuda and co-hosted by Bangladesh, Nigeria and Guyana, the Summit will bring together world leaders, development partners, investors, NGOs and private sector representatives to secure ambitious commitments and accelerate progress towards reaching the 1.1 billion people living with avoidable sight loss.
As a High Impact Partner, The Fred Hollows Foundation is helping drive momentum towards this pivotal moment for global eye health.
The Summit comes at a critical juncture. While significant progress has been made through global commitments such as the World Health Assembly Resolution WHA73.4 on integrated people-centred eye care and the United Nations General Assembly's Vision for Everyone resolution, implementation and investment have not kept pace with need. The result is that millions of people continue to miss out on a service that is among the most effective and transformative investments in global health and development.
More than a health issue
Vision is fundamental to people's ability to learn, work, earn an income, care for family members and participate fully in society. Yet untreated eye conditions continue to reinforce cycles of poverty, inequality and exclusion, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
Poor vision reduces educational attainment, labour force participation and productivity, while increasing dependency and vulnerability to economic shocks. Women and girls are disproportionately affected, accounting for 55 per cent of the 1.1 billion people living with vision loss that could be prevented or treated.
This is why eye health is far more than a health issue. It is a development issue, a gender equity issue and an economic issue. Improving vision directly contributes to progress across multiple Sustainable Development Goals, including health, education, gender equality, decent work and economic growth.
One of the smartest investments in development
The case for investment has never been stronger. Research from The Fred Hollows Foundation, the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) and the Seva Foundation shows that every US$1 invested in eye health can generate US$28 in economic returns, placing eye health alongside nutrition as one of the most cost-effective development interventions available.
The impact is profound. When people can see clearly, children are better able to learn, adults can participate more fully in the workforce and older people can maintain independence and quality of life. Restoring sight unlocks opportunity, productivity and dignity at every stage of life.
Yet eye care remains underfunded and too often absent from national health financing strategies. One of the key ambitions of the Global Summit for Eye Health is to change this by elevating eye health as an essential component of universal health coverage, human capital development and resilient health systems.
Turning commitments into investment
The Summit also provides a platform to advance new approaches to financing eye health at scale.
The Cameroon Cataract Bond and Africa Eye Health Accelerator are two examples of how we are applying these lessons to mobilise capital, scale impact and create sustainable access to eye care for undeserved communities.
The Fred Hollows Foundation is a Vanguard Investor in a pioneering partnership between the World Bank and the Vision Catalyst Fund (VCF), a global financing platform designed to unlock sustainable investment in eye health.
By combining catalytic philanthropic funding with domestic and development finance, the Vision Catalyst Fund helps countries move beyond fragmented, short-term projects towards nationally owned, costed and financeable eye health plans. Working alongside governments, the World Bank, IAPB and other founding partners, the VCF supports countries to translate eye health priorities into investment cases capable of attracting larger-scale financing.
This shift is critical. By embedding eye care into national health systems and aligning financing with government leadership, countries can reach more people, more sustainably, and at far greater scale.
Building on a legacy of global leadership
The Fred Hollows Foundation has played a leading role in advancing global eye health for decades, including through its partnership with the World Health Organization and IAPB in launching the landmark VISION 2020: The Right to Sight initiative.
Today, the Global Summit for Eye Health represents the next chapter in that journey. It is an opportunity to galvanise political will, unlock new investment and accelerate progress towards a future where quality eye care is available to everyone, regardless of where they live.
Professor Fred Hollows believed that no person should be needlessly blind because of where they were born or what they could afford. The Global Summit for Eye Health is a chance for the world to turn that vision into reality.
