Fred hollows foundation

New Zealander Fred Hollows was an internationally renowned eye surgeon and humanitarian who devoted his life to giving back the gift of vision to those who were needlessly blind. He believed that anyone should have the right to quality, affordable eye care and through his efforts, he restored sight to thousands of people around the world and trained other eye doctors to do the same.

Fred Hollows was born in Dunedin in While he studied briefly at a seminary, after taking a summer holiday job at a mental health facility he decided to change paths and enrolled at Otago Medical School. After graduating, Fred began assisting eye surgeons, which became such an interest he moved to the United Kingdom so that he could specialise in ophthalmology.

Following a brief period in Wales, Fred relocated to Australia.

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In the early s, he worked with the Gurindji people in the Northern Territory and with indigenous communities in remote regions of New South Wales. During these visits, he was troubled by the high prevalence of eye disorders, especially trachoma, among Indigenous Australian people. This infectious eye disease, caused by bacteria, was not usually seen in the developed world.

He was determined to advocate for better access to eye health and living conditions for those who need it most. Over the next three years, he visited more than indigenous communities in the Australian outback to provide eye care and, for the first time, record the status of eye health in rural Australia. His efforts resulted in 27, people receiving treatment for trachoma and over 1, life-changing operations being performed.

He later travelled to Eritrea in Eastern Africa. Fred had a strong belief that the solution to ending avoidable blindness should not only come in the form of flying doctors in and out, and providing cash. Instead, he believed that communities and governments should work together to eradicate avoidable blindness, and while travelling he spent his time training local technicians to perform life-changing eye surgery so that work could continue without him.

On these visits, Fred was also motivated to find ways to reduce the cost of eye care and treatment in developing countries.