Today, 1.1 billion people live with vision loss globally, yet 90% of cases are avoidable. The majority of those affected live in low- and middle-income countries where health services can be difficult to access. As well as our projects across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, we also operate the world’s only fully accredited ophthalmic teaching hospital on board a plane, the Flying Eye Hospital.
Speakers at the event reflected on Orbis’s work to tackle this vast issue over the last twelve months, including:
- The 100 millionth dose of antibiotics being delivered in southern Ethiopia to fight highly infectious trachoma, and its elimination in Gedeo, positively affecting over 1 million people. Repeated infections cause eyelashes to turn inward, where they scrape across the eye’s surface with every excruciating blink, leading to permanent.
- The first patient facing Orbis Flying Eye Hospital training programme since the pandemic began. The aircraft has helped to increase the skills of eye health professionals in more than 95 countries and patients are treated both onboard and within local partner hospitals.
- Surpassing over 90,000 users, covering almost every country in the world on our free telemedicine and e-learning platform, Cybersight, which also helps health care professionals detect common eye diseases in seconds using artificial intelligence (AI) software.
- Tackling barriers to eye care by further developing Women-Led Green Vision Centres in Bangladesh. These have seen an average of 21% more women and girls seeking eye care since their establishment, compared to standard services.
