Expanding access to eye care in a changing a world

Our commitment to training the next generation of eye care professionals remained strong, with 9,908 training sessions delivered — 23% above target. In Zambia, our integrated community eye health network screened 68,035 children — nearly double our target — while in Bangladesh, our women-led green vision centres continued to break down barriers to care.

With 42,821 patients seen, over half of whom were women and girls, these centres are transforming access to eye care and empowering women as leaders in their communities.

Elsewhere in Bangladesh, we continued to support vulnerable communities in Cox’s Bazar, delivering vital services to the Rohingya population, and concluded a successful project with tea pickers in Sylhet, where access to glasses directly improved livelihoods. In Mongolia, we screened over 2,000 premature babies and trained hundreds of professionals, while in India, we opened two new green vision centres and distributed over 22,000 pairs of glasses.

The Orbis Flying Eye Hospital returned to Mongolia and Bangladesh in 2024, delivering training and surgery in partnership with local hospitals. In Mongolia alone, over 25 professionals received world-class training, and more than 50 patients received life-changing surgery. We also supported impactful projects in South Africa, Sierra Leone, and Peru, helping to expand access to eye care through training, research, and essential equipment.

Our digital innovation also continued to thrive. Cybersight, our e-learning and telemedicine platform, reached the milestone of 100,000 users worldwide. This global community is helping to raise the standard of eye care everywhere.

In 2024, we continued to make significant progress towards growing and diversifying our income. Major donor contributions increased by 50% year-on-year, and income from companies, trusts and foundations, and the public all saw double-digit growth. This resulted in an additional £441k in donation income (excluding legacies and statutory sources) compared to the previous year.

Whilst we continue to grow the level of restricted donations last year, and in the face of fluctuating income from legacies and the volatility of global statutory funding, we also took the strategic decision to invest in our sustainable and controllable public giving income stream, which is a major source of unrestricted income for Orbis UK. This in-year investment enabled us to inspire a new generation of regular donors to the charity, providing reliable and resilient funding for our future programming over the coming years.

We were also honoured to welcome Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Edinburgh to our second annual Orbis Visionaries reception at Abbey Road Studios. In her role as Global Ambassador for the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, Her Royal Highness reflected on her visit to Orbis projects in Ethiopia and reaffirmed the global call to end avoidable blindness.

Looking ahead to 2025, we will support 21 new and existing projects through Orbis International, with a continued focus on eliminating trachoma in Ethiopia, expanding rural eye care in Bangladesh and Zambia, and scaling services in Ghana. We’ll also launch new initiatives in Meghalaya, India, and South Western Ethiopia, while deepening our work in Mongolia to ensure every premature baby receives the care they need.

Together, we are building a world where no one is needlessly blind. Thank you for standing with us.

With best wishes,

Rebecca Cronin (Chief Executive)
Nick Fox (Chair)