Training and Empowerment

Fred was an advocate of hands-on learning. He firmly believed there should always be three people in a room: a teacher, a student and a patient. Whether it was in an operating theatre in Sydney or in Hanoi, Fred took great delight in seeing the moment of understanding in his students’ eyes.

Fred could always see the bigger picture. He knew that his students would eventually become teachers themselves too. While a country might only have one ophthalmologist, soon enough it could have two, then ten.

Despite being very ill with cancer, Fred discharged himself from hospital in July 1992 to fly to Hanoi. There he wanted to fulfil his promise to train over 300 Vietnamese eye specialists in modern eye surgery techniques.
 
At that time only 1,000 cataract operations using intraocular lenses were performed each year in Vietnam. Students packed the operating theatre as Fred, who was too ill to perform the surgeries himself then, instructed his students with his usual enthusiasm, dedication and demand for perfection.

Today, these former students are continuing his work and leading the way in ophthalmology in Vietnam. That figure of 1,000 cataract operations has now multiplied to over 160,000 each year throughout the globe – all thanks to what Fred started.

No matter where we work, our aim is to build local skills and public health capacity at every level. We train surgeons, doctors, nurses, healthcare and community workers to recognise, refer and treat eye problems.

Community health workers are a vital link between patients and eye health services.

Trained by The Foundation, they visit communities, diagnosing a range of medical conditions and referring people to medical clinics, hospitals and doctors. Initial consultations like these are essential, because potentially damaging eye health issues are identified before they become critical.
 
In Kenya, these community health workers distribute antibiotics to prevent trachoma.

In Ethiopia, we train teachers who educate their students on how to prevent the spread of trachoma, such as washing their face to keep the disease at bay.

In Australia, health workers speak the local language of remote Indigenous communities. This dramatically increases the number of people who come for eye examinations and treatment.

As part of The Foundation’s work, we help train ophthalmologists so there are more specialists ready to tackle the many millions of cases of avoidable blindness. Dr Ciku Mathenge and Dr Ouk Soleaphy are two female surgeons trained by the Fred Hollows Foundation who are working tirelessly to improve eye health systems in their countries while helping to overcome gender barriers.
 
Empowering young ophthalmologists is very important to us, as it ties in directly with what Fred believed: train one surgeon and they’ll train hundreds more.

Globally, in 2023 we trained 36,804 people, including 232 eye surgeons, 27,127 community health workers and 4,202 teachers. 

While training is paramount, part of our work is also looking at a country’s infrastructure needs. This includes:

• building and upgrading eye health facilities;
• ensuring vital equipment and technology is in place, or even looking more broadly at national health systems;
• educating community leaders to establishing village health centres;
• building regional hospitals;
• creating national ophthalmological networks

All the work we do has one aim: to help build an independent and sustainable system of eye health worldwide.

A snapshot of our 2023 investment into equipment and technology: 

• In Africa, we equipped 695 medical facilities
• In East Asia, we equipped 804 medical facilities
• In South Asia and The Middle East, we equipped 450 medical facilities