Latest news

News and press releases from 2010 are now in the news archive

Eye-catching New Zealand author and TV chef Peta Mathias is calling on Kiwis to donate generously to the work of The Fred Hollows Foundation this Christmas.

Read more about how Peta Mathias is working with us.

Fred discovered mountain climbing in his student days, labouring on New Zealand's South Island at the scenic base of Mount Cook.

Read more about Fred's love of mountaineering  

In 2010 The Fred Hollows Foundation International continued to restore sight, provide high quality medical training, and build and equip health care facilities in 29 countries around the world. As a direct result hundreds of thousands of lives were transformed for the better.

Read more about the achievements of The Fred Hollows Foundation. 

A Christchurch optometrist Ian Russell has joined a Fred Hollows Foundation funded outreach to Vanuatu. Ian's trip was funded by Specsavers as part of their partnership with The Fred Hollows Foundation.

Read more about Ian Russell's experience on the surgical outreach.

October 13 2011 was World Sight Day, an international day to focus attention on the global issue of avoidable blindness and visual impairment.

Read more about World Sight Day and what you can do to make a difference. 

60 Minutes reporter, Ray Martin (who was a good friend of Fred's) travelled to Vietnam to follow Cam as he restored sight to people in need. This episode aired on TV3 October 2nd 2011.

Read more about 'Fred's Vision' on 60 Minutes.

A surgical team from the Pacific Eye Institute in Suva (an initiative of The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ) visited Labasa in late Augsust 2011 where they restored sight to 118 cataract-blind patients in just four days.

Read more about our surgical outreach to Labasa.

By Brent Impey - Published in the Otago Daily Times 7th July 2011

Born and educated in Dunedin and raised in Palmerston North, Fred Hollows was undoubtedly a Kiwi, but for some reason we haven’t given him the recognition he deserves. Our friends across the ditch however, have gone to town on him. In 1990 they named him Australian of the Year and awarded him a Human Rights Medal. In 1991 he accepted the substantive award of Companion of the Order of Australia. And in 2010 they even went as far as to feature him on their $1 coin as part of the Inspirational Australians Series. Read more

On Thursday 7th July 2011, Their Excellencies Rt Hon Sir Anand Satyanand (Governor General and Patron of The Foundation) and Lady Susan Satyanand hosted a reception for The Fred Hollows Foundation and their partners at Government House in Auckland. Read more

The Fred Hollows Foundation New Zealand and its partners officially opened a National Eye Centre in Dili on Thursday July 28th. The Centre, which will provide high quality eye care and sight restoring surgery to thousands of people suffering from avoidable blindness, is the first of its kind in Timor Leste, a country that is still finding its feet following years of devastating conflict.

Read more about The National Eye Centre, Timor Leste. 

The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ and spectacle supplier NGO Fo Naroman Timor Leste joined the Ministry of Health's Eye Health Unit to promote eye health amidst the stalls of many other Timorese health providers on World Health Day.

Read more here.

Graduates and students from The Fred Hollows Foundation training programs across the Pacific joined almost 4,000 ophthalmic nurses and doctors to converge on the annual Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology (APAO) Congress in Sydney in March. The congress focused on furthering education of eye health providers in 67 countries and all Foundation graduates were selected to present on eye health care in the Pacific.

Read more here

The Fred Hollows Foundation’s training centre in Papua New Guinea has been a hub of activity over the past week. Read more about the annual Graduation Ceremony and workshop for past Post Graduate Diploma in Eye Care students here.

The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ has partnered up with the NZ Police force in Timor-Leste to provide better eye health services to the Timorese community and reduce the prevalence of cataracts and treatable eye conditions.

Read more here

This month is the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day. To mark the occasion, The Foundation is shining a spotlight on inequities we are working hard to address in the Pacific and around the world.

Read more here

This month marks 18 years since the world lost Fred. One of his closest friends, the Australian author Thomas Kenally, pays tribute to the professor's work and fighting spirit.

Read more here

To support its work, The Fred Hollows Foundation has recently recruited a volunteer team of five regional representatives to help spread the word and share the work of the Foundation.  Each of the volunteers has been selected for their interest in, knowledge of, and commitment to the work of the Foundation.

Read more here

The new Kimbe Eye Clinic in West New Britain was officially opened on 14 October 2010 – World Sight Day – by the province’s governor, Peter Humphreys. 
Read more here

From 2011, Timor Leste will have qualified eye health workers in all 13 districts.
Read more here

Dr Neil Murray joins The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ as medical director after a long-term involvement with ophthamology work in the developing world.
Read more here