Fred Hollows Foundation

They say the eyes are the windows to the soul but more than 37million people around the world are blind. In the Pacific alone, a staggering 80,000 people are blind. 75% of blindness is avoidable and yet still a person goes blind every five seconds.

The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ works throughout the greater Pacific region eradicating blindness in developing countries.

The late Fred Hollows, a Kiwi eye surgeon, believed that every person had the right to sight and since starting The Fred Hollows Foundation over 750 eye surgeons have been trained to perform sight-restoring cataract surgery in Africa, Asia and in the Pacific. As a result, more than 1,000,000 people have had their sight restored.

The Fred Hollows Foundation makes it possible and gives people the greatest gift of all – their sight. Through donations from New Zealanders, The Foundation trains the local doctors and nurses so that they’re not reliant on western influences, providing them with the skills needed to perform intricate eye surgery. They then travel in to the remote, isolated areas and they take the surgery to those who can’t get out – often working under harsh, challenging conditions without electricity or running water. The surgery is performed under a local anaesthetic and just 24 hours later the bandage is removed and a person can see again.

We all take our eyesight for granted but it’s the aim of The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ to raise awareness of the need of the thousands needlessly blind in the Pacific and to encourage New Zealanders to get behind the cause. Cataract blindness can affect anyone but, in the developing world, it’s a death sentence.

The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ is training eye surgeons and nurses to work in all countries of the Pacific and have active country programs in Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Vanuatu, the Cook Islands and the Solomon Islands. It will be starting a national eye-care program in Timor-Leste later this year.

To make a donation to the work of The Foundation please visit their website www.hollows.org.nz or call 0800 227 229

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