The Fred Hollows Foundation has released its results for 2008, with a record 176,472 people receiving sight-saving eye operations and treatments and more than 1.3 million patients being screened in 18 countries worldwide.
“How good is it to be able to say that our little Australian organisation looked into the eyes of more than 1.3 million people last year, in some of the poorest countries in the world,” says the Foundation’s CEO, Brian Doolan.
“Frankly, I find that accomplishment to be staggering, and very, very humbling.”
The results represent a 20 per cent increase in eye operations in just one year. The Foundation also increased the number of eye health workers it trained from 3,284 in 2007, to 5,217 last year.
“That’s 5,217 people in villages, clinics and rural hospitals who today, right now are going about the work of realising Fred’s dream – that no-one on the face of this planet should be needlessly blind,” Mr. Doolan says.
In 2008, The Fred Hollows Foundation also completed upgrades to 29 eye health facilities and provided more than AUD$1.5 million for vital medical equipment.
In 2008 The Fred Hollows Foundation was awarded ‘Australia’s Best Practice Not-For-Profit’ by the ‘Givewell Good Giving Guide’ with an emphasis on being transparent and accountable, whilst delivering thoughtful and practical programs across a range of social dimensions.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column]