HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh Attends Orbis Visionaries Reception at Battersea Power Station

The event was also attended by other high-profile guests including Susannah Constantine and Tom Davies.

Renowned TV presenter and journalist Helen Fospero led a panel discussion where Orbis experts discussed tackling avoidable vision loss. Key issues such as access to eye care for women and children, and improving vision to support work were addressed. The panellists included:

• Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Edinburgh

"I have been lucky enough to travel with Orbis through my work with the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness as Global Ambassador, and I have seen for myself so many times the very effective operations that are carried out in varying situations. The wonderful thing about eye solutions is that it's so simple. We have the technology. We have the know-how. We just don't have the spread of capability. I had a wonderful trip to Ethiopia, which is the country with the largest number of people with blinding trachoma in the world, and although they face a massive uphill struggle, we've already seen huge improvements in interventions."

• Professor Nathan Congdon, Director, Research and Tech Advisor, Orbis International

"Of the 1.1 billion people living with vision loss, about half is people who have near vision impairment. These are people that just need a pair of reading glasses, something that we could go to Boots Opticians and get within fifteen minutes, but which is unavailable for most of the world's population."

• Lucia Mvula, Country Director, Orbis Zambia

"In Zambia, we have far flung communities that do not have access to services when they need them the most, especially children. In some cases, we have children arriving at the health centre or the hospital late with retinoblastoma, an eye cancer. Without early intervention, by the time they get into the hospital, it's probably too late. We want to bring services as close to these communities as possible."

• Dr. Alemayehu Sisay, Country Director, Orbis Ethiopia

"Ethiopia still carries the largest share of the global burden of trachoma. Nearly 200,000 people in the country suffer from the blinding form of the disease, and more than half of those at risk across the world live there. Eliminating trachoma by 2030 is our top priority. It should not be a disease affecting mothers and children in the 21st Century. That is our vision for Ethiopia."

The Orbis Visionaries reception was supported by OMEGA, who have contributed to Orbis’s sight saving work since 2011. For the Orbis Visionaries reception, the Swiss watchmaker donated a Speedmaster 38 mm Orbis timepiece which, through a silent auction.

Along with providing vital funding for the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital, OMEGA has also supported Orbis’ work through the provision of teddy bears for young patients, as well as through global awareness campaigns featuring brand ambassadors such as Cindy Crawford and Daniel Craig.

Today, 1.1 billion people are living with vision loss – yet 90% of this is preventable or treatable. Most of those affected live in low- and middle-income countries, where getting proper eye care is often out of reach.

The next five years leading up to 2030 are critical to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which aim to end poverty and inequality, by ensuring people have their health, justice and prosperity

By accessing quality eye care, lives and local economies can be transformed in areas where it is needed most. Orbis has a vision for 2030 and will continue to save sight worldwide through expanding school screening programmes, delivering projects for low-income workers, and training the next generation of eye care professionals.

In October 2023, Orbis welcomed The Duchess of Edinburgh to their work in Hawassa, Ethiopia. Here, Her Royal Highness witnessed dedicated health workers screening for and treating the painful eye disease trachoma. At the 2024 Orbis Visionaries Reception, Her Royal Highness renewed the call for global trachoma elimination by 2030.

Orbis is proud to have also welcomed Her Royal Highness to visit to their Flying Eye Hospital project in 2013 in Kolkata, India, and then again to Dhaka and Chattogram, in 2017, where she saw their work first hand, training local eye care professionals and supporting the community.