Where we work

Millions of people go blind every year, and millions more suffer poor vision, simply because of where they were born. We think this is unacceptable. Learn more about where we work and the communities we help, all thanks to our supporters, partners, and in-country teams.

Africa

Ethiopia

Orbis has been fighting avoidable blindness in Ethiopia for over two decades. The Addis Ababa office, registered in 1998, was our first program office and currently manages our largest portfolio of eye care programs. Orbis Ethiopia focuses on trachoma elimination, training, governance, and health system strengthening in urban and rural settings.

Ghana

The Flying Eye Hospital first touched down in Ghana in 1990, with long-term country programs established by 2014. 209,000 people, out of a population of 30.8 million, are living with blindness, with a further 330,000 living with severe vision loss. Orbis works alongside partners to improve access to eye care, especially for children.

Zambia

Orbis has been partnering with the Zambian Ministry of Health since 2010 to build capacity within the overburdened and under-resourced healthcare system. Orbis Zambia, a branch of Orbis International, was established in 2016 to help scale quality eye care across the county.

Bangladesh

Orbis started its journey in Bangladesh in 1985 when the Flying Eye Hospital first touched down, with long-term programs starting in the year 2000. Since then, Orbis has worked with local partners to focus on eye disease prevention and sight restoration for women, children, and marginalized communities in remote, rural areas.

China

Orbis has worked in China since the Flying Eye Hospital visited Guangzhou in 1982. Since establishing an office in Beijing in 1999, our long-term projects have helped create quality, affordable, and accessible eye care with a particular focus on rural areas.

India

Orbis began saving sight in India in 1988 and set up our in-country office in Delhi in 2000. Orbis India's main focus areas are children's eye care, primary eye care, Human Resources for Eye Health, and enabling quality eye health. 270,000 children are living with blindness in India, with more than 50% of these cases being avoidable.

Mongolia

The Orbis Flying Eye Hospital first visited Mongolia in 1989 to help improve the skills of local eye teams. Since then there have been further training projects on board the Flying Eye Hospital, in local hospitals, and online via our telemedicine platform, Cybersight.

Nepal

Orbis has worked in Nepal since the Flying Eye Hospital first visited Kathmandu in 1985. Nepal's diverse terrain has led to an unequal distribution of infrastructure, equipment, and human resources in eye health, which makes our work even more critical.

Vietnam

Orbis began working in Vietnam in 1996, providing ophthalmic training in local hospitals in collaboration with the Vietnam National Institute of Ophthalmology. In 2003, an Orbis office was set up in Hanoi following the launch of several long-term projects and the establishment of the country's first eye bank.

Chile

We began working in Chile, where there are more than 57,000 people living with blindness and 470,000 people with vision impairment, in the fall of 2018. Simulation is a large part of our strategy both to help reach more people, and more importantly, improve patient safety.

Peru

In Peru, around 950k people are visually impaired and another 145,000 are blind. There is a critical need to tackle some of the more complicated and less understood causes of eye disease in the region such as Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) in premature babies and Diabetic Retinopathy (DR).

Bolivia

Bolivia has one of the highest rates of blindness and visual impairment in South America with almost 200,000 people affected. With only 470 ophthalmologists serving 11 million people, Bolivia lacks the resources - as well as the necessary infrastructure, equipment and technology - to provide high quality eye health services.

Guyana

In Guyana, around 14,000 people are visually impaired and almost 3,000 people are blind. Strengthening Diabetic Retinopathy eye care services is a major area of focus with diabetes affecting an estimated 15.1% of the country’s total population.

Orbis Headquarters

Orbis UK

The Orbis UK affiliate office in London

Orbis Ireland

The Orbis Ireland affiliate office

Orbis Canada

The Orbis Canada affiliate office

Orbis Hong Kong

The Orbis Hong Kong office

Orbis Macau

The Orbis Macau affiliate office

Orbis China

The Orbis China office

Orbis Singapore

The Orbis Singapore affiliate office