About Lao PDR
Lao PDR is a predominantly rural country, with the majority of its population living in rural areas. For many people, distance, cost and limited access to health services can make it difficult to get the eye care they need.
Eye health is a significant challenge. More than 93% of blindness in Lao PDR is avoidable, meaning it can be prevented or treated.
The Fred Hollows Foundation works with governments, local health services and communities to improve access to eye care, strengthen the eye health workforce and remove the barriers that can prevent people from receiving treatment.
The eye health challenge in Lao PDR
Many people in Lao PDR are living with avoidable blindness and vision impairment, particularly in rural and underserved communities.
Cataract is the leading cause of blindness
Cataract causes 75% of blindness among people aged 50 and over in Lao PDR. An estimated 16,000 people need cataract surgery, with around 6,200 new cases of cataract blindness occurring each year.
Access to surgery remains limited
Only 53.7% of people who need cataract surgery receive it. And around 60% of cataract surgeries achieve a good outcome, below the World Health Organization's recommended threshold of 80%.
Distance, cost and other barriers can make it difficult for people in rural communities to access eye care.
Women face greater barriers to eye care
Women over 50 are twice as likely as men to be blind. Women account for nearly 70% of the cataract backlog, highlighting significant barriers to accessing cataract surgery.
There aren't enough trained eye health workers
Lao PDR has around four ophthalmologists per million people. Strengthening the eye health workforce is essential to ensure people can access quality care where they live.
Invest in sight. Transform a nation.
Lao PDR presents a rare opportunity to invest in lasting change.
We have a bold vision. By 2031, we want to clear the cataract backlog and reach a sustainable steady state in Laos. We will work with local partners to deliver high-volume, rapid cataract surgeries, and the government to develop eye health system strengthening interventions that ensure sustainability and national ownership.
This shifts cataract service delivery from a project-based, externally driven model toward a government-led, system-integrated program embedded within national health structures and systems.
With the right investment, we can strengthen eye health systems, expand access to care and help end avoidable blindness at scale.
Explore our Laos Country Impact Plan.
Discover the opportunity, the impact and how investment in solutions can help transform eye health across Lao PDR.
Our work in Lao PDR
The Fred Hollows Foundation works with the Lao PDR health system to make eye care more accessible, particularly for people living in rural and marginalised communities.
Our work includes community screening and referral, eye operations and treatments, training health workers and strengthening local eye health services.
With support from the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP), our current program is removing barriers to eye care for marginalised communities across seven provinces.
Reaching people who face barriers to eye care
People living in rural and marginalised communities can face significant barriers to accessing eye care, including the cost of treatment, transport and limited awareness of available services.
Our programs work with communities and local health services to identify people who need care, connect them with treatment and strengthen services closer to where people live.
Strengthening the eye health workforce
Building a skilled local workforce is central to creating sustainable eye care services in Lao PDR.
The Foundation supports training for ophthalmologists, nurses, clinic staff and community health workers. This helps local health teams provide screening, referral and treatment and strengthens the services available to communities.
More than 3,000 people were trained through our Laos program in 2025, including 16 surgeons, 10 clinic support staff and 2,505 community health workers.
Expanding access through local eye services
The Foundation supports eye health services in provincial hospitals and mobile eye camps, helping extend care beyond major population centres.
Dr Visay Chanthavong, an ophthalmologist trained by The Fred Hollows Foundation, works at Vientiane Provincial Hospital and supports mobile eye camps at Vang Vieng Hospital.
These services are particularly important for people living in remote and rural communities who may otherwise struggle to reach or afford treatment.
Improving access for women and underserved communities
Women experience significantly higher rates of blindness and severe vision impairment from cataract than men in Lao PDR.
Our work focuses on identifying and addressing the barriers that prevent people from accessing eye care, with a particular focus on women, people with disabilities and others in vulnerable situations.
Our achievements
Since 2008, The Fred Hollows Foundation and its partners have:
Helped more than 100,000 people receive eye screening, operations and other treatments.
Established health promotion, basic screening, referral and eye health services across 11 provinces.
Increased access to eye health services for nearly one million people.
Trained thousands of surgeons, nurses and health care workers.
Supported local eye health services and mobile outreach to reach people in rural communities.
A doctor helping his community see
Dr Visay dreamed of becoming an eye doctor after seeing people with poor vision struggle to work and provide for their families. Today, he is the only ophthalmologist at Vientiane Provincial Hospital, caring for more than 500,000 people.
Trained by The Fred Hollows Foundation, Dr Visay performs more than 200 surgeries each year and travels to rural communities to support mobile eye camps. His work helped seven-year-old Lumi receive cataract surgery after his condition was discovered through a school eye screening.
“I think ophthalmology is my magic item to help people overcome blindness.”
Investing in eye health in Lao PDR
Improving access to eye care can have benefits far beyond sight.
The Value of Vision report from the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, The Fred Hollows Foundation and Seva Foundation found that investing US $2.12 million in eye health in Lao PDR could generate an estimated $31.2 million in economic benefits.
This includes:
- $17 million from improved occupational productivity
- $6.9 million from increased employment
- 3,070 additional years of schooling
- $2.98 million in savings from reduced caregiving needs
The report identifies six priorities for improving eye health in Lao PDR: earlier detection through community screening, providing glasses on the spot, developing the eye health workforce, increasing surgical capacity, removing barriers such as transport and cost, and improving the quality of cataract surgery.
In 2025, The Foundation and its partners made great progress in key strategic areas in East Asia:
1,217,027
People screened.
118,776
Eye operations and treatments performed including cataract operations, surgeries to treat trachoma, diabetic retinopathy treatments and other sight saving or improving interventions.
53,634
Pairs of glasses distributed.
10,955
People trained including community health workers, surgeons, clinic support staff and teachers.
498,227
School children and community members educated in eye health and sanitation.
438
Facilities built, equipped or renovated.
The countries in Asia that The Foundation works in are Lao PDR, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines and Indonesia.
Read more about our work in Lao PDR
Dr Visay’s dream to help everyone see
The eye doctor helping communities see again in Laos
Lien's Story
