Like our founder Fred Hollows, we fight for a world in which no person is needlessly blind or vision impaired.
It started around Fred and Gabi’s dinner table
Four years after he was diagnosed with cancer, and knowing he didn’t have much longer to live, Fred and Gabi Hollows started The Foundation around their kitchen table with a group of friends and supporters. They promised Fred they’d keep on fighting for a world where everyone, rich or poor, can access high-quality and affordable eye care. To this very day, that’s what we do.
In 1993, The Fred Hollows Foundation opened an office in New Zealand. In the early days we raised money to support Fred’s intraocular lens laboratories in Eritrea and Nepal and since 2002, we’ve been restoring sight in the Pacific.
We focus on preventable and treatable diseases such as cataracts and diabetes eye disease. We train local eye doctors, nurses and health care workers and give them the technology they need to recognise, diagnose, refer, and treat eye problems in their communities. We build new clinics and come up with innovative ways to reach people in need, like our Mobile Eye Clinic in Fiji. We undertake research to improve our understanding of avoidable blindness, and use our findings to bring about much-needed change.
Our ultimate goal is to hand over the reins to our dedicated and passionate team of eye care professionals in the Pacific. After years of training at the Pacific Eye Institute in Fiji, these are the people who dedicate their lives to restoring sight in their own communities. Together they are the future of eye care in the Pacific.
We’re independent, not-for-profit, politically unaligned and secular.
With your help, we’re working just as tirelessly as Fred did to end avoidable blindness. We’re fighting injustice, building local capacity, and staying true to our values. Thank you for helping Fred’s work live on. We really couldn’t do it without you.
The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ is a registered charitable organisation under the Charities Act 2005.
Charities Commission registration number is CC23722.
© 2025 The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ. All rights reserved.
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