What we offer

The Foundation’s work in the Pacific region focuses on working with our local partners to help Pacific countries create sustainable, quality, local eye health care, services and specialist staff.

• Strengthening of local eye health systems. Our work supports the building of strong, nationally integrated eye health systems. We have supported numerous Pacific countries in developing their National Eye Care Plans, including Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, and Samoa. Work is also underway to roll out a National Eye Care Plan for Tonga. We also support and guide the training of National Eye Health Coordinators in the Pacific countries we work with, equipping them with the tools and skills to effectively deliver the strategies of their country’s National Eye Care Plan.
• Assessing avoidable blindness. We work with our Pacific partners to help assess avoidable blindness and vision impairment in countries via the Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness (RAAB) survey. This standardised, population-based survey determines the prevalence and causes of blindness and vision impairment among people aged 50 years and older. The survey is led by local eye specialists and the National Eye Health Coordinator, with support from The Foundation. The data gathered helps us better understand a country’s area of greatest need, so we can help plan and develop more effective, targeted eye care strategies.
• Supporting the development of Pacific eye health workforces. We work with Pacific partners to help countries build their own workforce of eye health specialists. We do this through the delivery of training for eye doctors, nurses, optometrists and other eye health specialists. In a first for The Foundation, in February 2024 we partnered with the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) to establish scholarships for eye doctor training in PNG. The scholarships facilitate training in Master of Medicine (MMed) and Post Graduate Diploma in Ophthalmology (PGDO) for students from various PNG provinces.
• Increasing access to inclusive services. We strive to ensure everyone has access to the eye care they need. To do this, we integrate gender, disability and social inclusion activities into our programmes. As an example of this initiative, our team in Madang, PNG, recently partnered with local disability organisation Creative Self-Help to deliver disability awareness training to local eye health staff.

Supporting Pacific countries to strengthen their eye health systems and eradicate avoidable blindness and vision impairment is the cornerstone of our work.