Our year
at a glance

The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ is now officially over 30 years old, and what an inspired and industrious 30 years it has been. The accomplishments are far too many to mention here, but what I would like to say is that nothing could have been achieved without our donors who have faithfully supported us over the years – it is because of you that we can continue to play an integral role in eliminating avoidable blindness across the Pacific.

To celebrate a successful 30 Years of Restoring Sight, and to look toward the next 30 years, The Foundation was hosted at Government House by our patron, Her Excellency, The Rt Hon Dame Cindy Kiro, who noted, "If he was still with us, Fred would be delighted to see what The Foundation has achieved in terms of treatment and empowerment of local providers”.

Last year, we celebrated an impressive achievement: supporting the training of over 370 eye care specialists in the Pacific since we began working in the region. These eye care specialists, who have gone on to provide eye care in their own communities, are testament to the hard work and dedication of The Foundation and its Pacific partners.

I would like to also make note here of both the past and present Trustees, whose contribution to the direction of The Foundation over the years, has helped to enable the organisation to get to where it is today. In 2023, we were delighted to welcome Leo Foliaki and Lady Roslyn Morauta to our Board. Leo is a chartered accountant and retired partner from PwC. Lady Roslyn is the former first lady of Papua New Guinea, and with her extensive experience of working in the country, she will bring great insight to our work in this area.

As you read this report, I feel it is an important achievement to note that at last year’s New Zealand Charity Reporting Awards, our annual Performance Report won the top award. This is significant as the awards recognise outstanding financial reporting among registered charities. We strive to be as effective as we can be in everything we do; hence it is lovely to see our team’s efforts in this regard recognised. I would like to acknowledge the fantastic work of everybody that is involved in the production of this report.

Finally, I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone that sits under the wonderful umbrella of Team Fred - our staff, our donors, our supporters, our stakeholders, our Trustees and our Pacific partners. We are so fortunate to have such a wonderful array of people who are all doing more than their fair share to achieve Fred’s vision of a world in which no person is needlessly blind or vision impaired.

One of the privileges of my role is having oversight of our organisation and seeing the incredible work that happens day in and day out by all members of Team Fred – from our staff in the Pacific on the frontline providing eye care, to our team in New Zealand keeping the cogs turning, to our partners in the Pacific who we work hand-in-hand with, and to the donors who we couldn’t operate without. All these people have helped make 2023 a great year for The Foundation. Following on from the development of our 10-year organisational strategy, 2023 was a year of implementation and taking important steps towards advancing the Pacific’s vision of universal access to quality eye care. We remain steadfast in our core focus of training a Pacific regional eye care workforce.

Although the year’s achievements are too many to mention here, I would like to make note of the State of Eye Health in the Pacific research programme that was launched – a great example of Our Strategy in action. We are partnering with the University of Auckland’s School of Optometry and Vision Science and Te Poutoko Ora a Kiwa (Centre for Global and Pacific Health), as well as Pacific governments, the New Zealand Government, and Ian Anderson Economics. This programme will develop the evidence that decision-makers across the Pacific require to strengthen eye health plans and policies to enable sustainable eye health services.

We also signed a multi-year partnership agreement with the Government of Samoa and extended our agreements with the Governments of Tonga and Fiji, reflecting our commitment to working respectfully with Pacific governments as they continue to determine, lead, and strengthen their own eye health systems. In addition, we signed a new multi-year Memorandum of Understanding with Divine Word University in Papua New Guinea, for collaboration on the delivery of the Advanced Diploma in Eye Care for mid-level eye care personnel. And we continued to push forward with our focus on eye care in Papua New Guinea which has the highest rate of avoidable vision loss in the Pacific, with 61% of all blindness being experienced by women. We are working with our partners to strengthen the country’s eye health system, with a focus on training eye doctors, nurses, and health extension officers to address Papua New Guinea’s chronic shortage of eye health professionals. In order to do this, The Foundation is working with the Government of Papua New Guinea, the University of Papua New Guinea, and other stakeholders, as well as the New Zealand Government to establish a Centre for Eye Health in Port Moresby, which will result in a significant expansion of eye care services.

In addition, we have been examining what we do at The Foundation through a broader sustainability lens. The Pacific region is disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change, resulting in sea level rise and increasingly frequent and severe weather events. As an organisation, we are committed to working with governments to help mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change, including supporting the increased climate resilience of health facilities to ensure the ongoing delivery of eye health services.

To provide greater transparency over what we are doing towards sustainability, we have included an additional ‘How We Work’ section in this report. We are learning, developing, and adapting our practices.

In closing, I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks. Thank you to each and every person who plays a role in helping The Foundation and its partners to improve eye care services throughout the Pacific. You are truly making a difference in the lives of people every single day.

As Medical Director of The Foundation, when I look back and reflect on 2023, there is an immense sense of pride that I feel. I can, and will, mention the impressive statistics for the year – 81,839 consultations, 5,792 surgeries and 23 graduates – but what I am most proud of is the way our medical staff pull together and work as a team to ensure that Pacific people are receiving the best eye care possible.

A pertinent example of this was the Pacific Eye Care Society (PacEYES) 20th Anniversary Conference, held in 2023. Themed ‘Eye Care for All’ and underscoring the goal to expand access to quality eye care across the Pacific region, the event saw over 140 people attend the two-day conference, including eye doctors, nurses and technicians from 13 countries in Oceania. A wonderful illustration of our Pacific eye care community working together to ensure quality eye care is available to all.

Across all our Pacific countries, we saw many important steps forward for eye care services last year, but I would like to make special mention here of Vanuatu. Not only did the National Eye Centre in Port Vila see Dr Andronico Ly join the team as Senior Consultant Ophthalmologist, but the centre also significantly reduced its backlog to the lowest it has been in several years. Also in Vanuatu, the first ever Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness (RAAB) was completed. A RAAB is population-based survey that determines the prevalence and primary causes of blindness and visual impairment, as well as indicators on eye care services and access to treatment in a given country. The inaugural survey saw the RAAB team examine the eyes of nearly 5,000 people across Vanuatu and will provide important evidence to inform eye health planning going forward.

I would also like to talk about one of my favourite days of the year – World Sight Day. Having dedicated my life to caring for people’s eyes, this day resonates with me on a deep level. This year the theme was ‘Love your eyes at work’ and when I observed what our teams in the Pacific were doing to honour the day, I saw the level of passion that every one of them has for their job.

In Solomon Islands free diabetes checks were performed, free spectacles were given out and eye screening outreaches were conducted for government departments, private companies and peri-urban areas of Honiara. Free community eye screenings were also completed in Kiribati and Vanuatu - where close to 300 people were screened and free glasses were given out. In Fiji, 14 sight-restoring eye surgeries were performed on children, and in Papua New Guinea, two public awareness videos were put together and aired on TV and radio.

These are only a selection of the amazing things our teams accomplished to mark World Sight Day, but to me, it speaks to the level of enthusiasm and dedication they all have in their jobs. This is not just a job to our medical staff; it is a calling.