About Us

A staggering 90% of all vision loss is treatable or preventable. That equates to 1 billion people on this planet living with vision loss from avoidable causes. Nine out of ten people with vision loss live in low- and middle-income countries, and 55% are women and girls.

To combat this, we build strong eye care systems that cover the full range of eye care services — from educating people about eye health and the importance of preventive care to identifying eye conditions in the community to providing treatment and follow-up services for those who need them.

We not only improve access to eye care in the communities that need it most, but we do it in a sustainable and strategic way that leaves a lasting legacy of vision.

The Orbis in the Middle East Team is a part of Orbis UK, an affiliate of Orbis International. We are dedicated to raising awareness of avoidable blindness throughout the region and manage our vital relationships with donors and partners such as The Qatar Fund for Development and Qatar Charity.

In 2016 we established the Qatar Creating Vision initiative, thanks to an $8 million donation from the Qatar Fund for Development. The four year programme was designed to drive down the high rates of avoidable blindness of children within India and Bangladesh. Over the years, 6.7 million eye tests and treatments have been delivered. In addition, the programme expanded in 2018 to support the Rohingya and local host communities in South East Bangladesh, many of whom had never had access to eye care before.

Qatar Creating Vision was further expanded to support the elimination of Trachoma in Ethiopia and expand child eye health services in the Copperbelt province in Zambia.

To make eye care systems strong and sustainable, Orbis works with Ministries of Health and partners with local medical facilities to ensure that:

• public health agendas and budgets prioritise eye care
• eye care is seamlessly incorporated into existing healthcare systems so that eye health contributes to patients’ overall health and wellbeing, and vice versa
• quality eye care services are available and accessible where patients need them—whether in rural health centers or urban hospitals
• eye care teams have the training and equipment they need to deliver high-quality sight-saving care.

Our values of Accountability, Commitment, Innovation, Integrity and Equity are the threads that connect our global team across geographies, languages, job functions and time zones.

With the help of our amazing partners and supporters we’ve been a pioneer in the prevention and treatment of blindness for more than 40 years.

We have long-term projects around the world across countries including India, Bangladesh, Nepal, China, Vietnam, Ethiopia, South Africa, Ghana, Zambia, Cameroon, Peru, Mongolia, and Indonesia. Visit our Where We Work section for more information..

With the support of our partners we have trained hundreds of thousands of doctors, nurses, biomedical engineers and eye care workers over the past four decades. As a result we have positively impacted the lives of millions of men, women, and children enabling them to see the world clearly and reach their full potential.

We work where the need for eye care is greatest and where we can do the most good, working closely with governments and health ministries.

We strive for excellence in everything we do - from our world leading volunteers to our state-of-the-art Flying Eye Hospital - and only the best training and practices will be passed on.