One of the most critical issues in global eye health is the lack of an adequately trained workforce. Our global network of expert volunteers give up their free time to share their skills and knowledge to help improve the quality of patient care and ensure more people can see.
Expert volunteers
Our world renowned expert volunteers are the heartbeat of our training programmes. For more than 30 years, our goal has been to share the skills and knowledge they have built to help prevent avoidable blindness around the world.
In 2020, 126 Volunteer Faculty from 21 countries and regions participated in our work on board the Flying Eye Hospital, in virtual Flying Eye Hospital projects, on Cybersight, and through three training sessions at partner hospitals.
This is the very reason Orbis was formed – to provide ongoing training and support to eye care teams around the world. Comprised of world leading experts in eye health, our global force of 400 volunteer ophthalmologists, nurses, anaesthetists and biomedical engineers from over 30 countries, share their skills with local teams to help improve the level of eye care for generations to come.
By talking to our partner hospitals and their staff, we create teaching programmes tailored specifically for their needs. Our volunteers conduct this training and pass on the tools to undertake more complicated procedures, improve surgical outcomes and most importantly of all, restore sight to those in need of assistance.
Meet Some of Our Orbis Heros
Our teams of volunteers also mentor people from around the world through our tele-medicine platform, Cybersight. With 89% of the world’s blind population living in low income settings, this training makes eye care more accessible where it is needed most.
Thanks to our partners and supporters, our amazing volunteers can run training programmes which not only help share critical skills, but give the gift of sight to those needlessly living in a world of darkness.
Through the collaboration of our volunteers and local medical teams, more children can see their parents for the first time; an elderly man regains his vision meaning his grandchild can go to school and no longer needs to be a carer; or a mother can receive surgery and return to work to support her family.