Image courtesy Robert Pearce / Fairfax Photos

Achievements

Fred's achievements at a glance

Photo courtesy of Pat Fiske.
Professor Fred Hollows
It has been estimated that through Fred's initiatives, over one million people around the world have had their sight restored.
  • Fred Hollows was born in Dunedin and grew up in Palmerston North where he attended Palmerston North Boys' High School. 
  • He later returned to Dunedin to train as a doctor at Otago Medical School.
  • Fred spent his adult life living in Australia where he was a passionate advocate for indigenous health. 
  • In the late 1970s Fred headed up the National Trachoma and Eye Health Programme (NTEHP). Over the course of three years he and his team visited more than 465 indigenous communities across Australia and screened approximately 100,000 people for eye disease. Over 27,000 people were treated for trachoma (an eye disease normally only found in developing countries) and over 1,000 eye surgeries were performed.
  • In the 1980s Fred travelled to a number of developing countries including Burma, Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Eritrea and Nepal. He was appalled by the prevelance of cataract blindness and championed the introduction of modern cataract surgery in developing countries using an implanted intraocular lens (IOL).
  • Frustrated by the cost of an IOL ($150USD) he decided to set up his very own IOL factories in Eritrea and Nepal. In doing so he reduced the cost of an IOL to just $8USD, making cataract surgery affordable for millions of people living in the developing world.
  • Just five months before he died of cancer he worked with supporters and his wife Gabi Hollows to set up The Fred Hollows Foundation to ensure his sight saving work would continue after his death.
  • The Fred Hollows Foundation has now helped restore sight to over one million people in the developing world.
  • He was named Australian of the Year in 1990 in recognition of his ground-breaking work.
  • He also recieved Rotary International's highest honour, the Rotary Award for World Understanding.
  • More recently he was included in The Bulletin Magazine's list of the 100 most influential Australians and was named one of New Zealand's Top 100 History Makers.