News and stories

The IECW protecting his community through a pandemic

June 18, 2020

Temesgen is an Integrated Eye Care Worker (IECW) based at a health centre in Ethiopia. He was first trained by Orbis in 2012 and has been working as an IECW for eight years. IECWs are primary care nurses trained in eye care to identify and treat infections, TT and refractive error and to refer patients to district and regional units as appropriate.

Zambia Flying Eye Hospital goes virtual

June 17, 2020

The Flying Eye Hospital should be in Zambia right now, delivering hands-on training to our partners in Lusaka, Kitwe, Ndola, and Chipata. However, like millions of people all over the world it is stuck at home waiting for better times. But that has not stopped our team delivering first-class training to our dedicated partners online.

The Eye Health Field Assistants Taking on Coronavirus in Ethiopia

June 04, 2020

As many of the routine eye health services in Ethiopia have been temporarily suspended, a group of local eye health Field Assistant and Drivers are now working to keep their communities safe from coronavirus.

Volunteers' Week: Volunteering in Vietnam

June 04, 2020

To further celebrate Volunteers’ Week, we had a chat with Gill Adams. She specialises in paediatric ophthalmology. Gill spoke to us about why she volunteers with Orbis and her visits to Vietnam, most recently in 2018.

Volunteers’ Week: UK anaesthetist on sharing skills around the world

June 03, 2020

This Volunteers’ Week, we’re highlighting volunteers from across the eye health spectrum. Today we meet Ian Fleming, a consultant anaesthetist from King’s College Hospital.

Telemedicine is "the future" says Orbis Cybersight founder Dr. Gene Helveston

June 02, 2020

Millions of people around the world have found themselves relying on telecommunication tools like Zoom and Microsoft Teams due to the global lockdown. Here at Orbis, we’ve been pioneering these very practices for 20 years thanks largely to one man.

Volunteers’ Week: Thoughts on 16 years as an Orbis volunteer

June 01, 2020

Larry Benjamin has been an Orbis medical volunteer for 16 years, and a trustee on our board for 12 years. To celebrate Volunteers’ Week, we caught up with Larry to find out what originally attracted him to Orbis, and why after all these years, the work he does still makes him tick.

From saving sight to helping to save lives in Zambia

May 19, 2020

Bwalya Mwenya, pictured during her training above, qualified as an ophthalmic clinical officer two years ago, in 2018. Since then, she has established the first specialised eye clinic in her district in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia.