The Fred Hollows Foundation's Five Year Strategy (2024-2028)

We face a global health crisis

The number of people living with severe vision impairment and blindness is predicted to double by 2050, to an estimated 1.7 billion people, and more than 55% of these are women and girls.

The central challenge is that overall need is increasing faster than the best efforts of the eye health sector, placing wide ranging social and economic impact on individuals, households, communities, and health systems. Cost-effective solutions exist for the most common causes of blindness and vision impairment, so there are opportunities to scale these solutions as well as identify breakthrough advancements.
 

Vision impairment can have serious consequences across all stages of life

The consequences of not meeting the needs of people with vision impairment can have wide-reaching consequences on the lives of people and their communities.

Adults with vision impairment can have lower quality of life, lower rates of workforce participation and productivity, and higher rates of depression and anxiety. Children with early onset severe impairment can experience delayed motor, language, emotional, social, and cognitive development.
 

Eye health is a smart investment

Blindness and vision impairment presents not only an enormous personal cost but also an enormous financial burden on the global economy.  

Proven eye care interventions, such as cataract surgery and glasses, are among the most cost-effective in all of health care. Taken together, investment in the two leading causes of blindness and vision impairment (cataract and refractive error) on average return US$9.40 for each dollar spent.

Over the past 30 years, The Foundation has made significant progress towards the achievement of our vision. However, we know that if we want to address to growing burden of avoidable blindness and vision loss, we must do things differently. In the next five years, we will place a greater focus on system-level changes, collective action, innovation and integration.
 

System level-changes

Traditionally the sector has focussed on implementing vertical eye health services. While this needs to continue, we must address the problem at the systemic level.  More effort is needed at national level to make system altering change and this will require strengthening advocacy and influence skills, greater use of collective leadership, and a strong focus on the major barriers to eye health such as critical health workforce shortage, quality, and the lack of eye health data.
 

Collective action

We know that we cannot solve the problem alone, and collective action is needed to achieve our goals. The Foundation will invest in and empower its supporters, people and partners to address eye health as part of broader health and social systems.
 

Innovation

Performance of eye health systems can be improved through innovation and change. This will come from the use of technology, artificial intelligence, process change, task shifting, or data and digital improvements.  The Foundation will pilot and take to scale innovative approaches that have the potential to bring about transformative improvements that multiply change.
 

Integration

Eye health is not consistently included in national health budgets, funding mechanisms and health plans. Poor integration impacts the accessibility, availability, and affordability of eye health, and is one of the priority challenges to be overcome in addressing the persistent issue of blindness and vision impairment.  

The Foundation will aim to ensure that comprehensive eye care services are integrated into national health strategies, policies, budgets, and into primary care, as well as other relevant sectors such as education and aged care.