ANNUAL REPORT 2024

We also embraced practical, low-tech solutions, proving impact doesn’t require complexity. In Ethiopia and Zambia, the BOOST mobile app helped improve cataract surgical outcomes with real-time feedback for surgeons; in China, a WeChat mini-app helped tailor Cybersight content to local users; and in Zambia, community health workers used bicycles to reach patients in “last mile” areas and improve follow-up care.

We helped eye care professionals and community health workers in nearly every corner of the globe build their skills and confidence to deliver quality care through over 32,000 trainings completed in partner hospitals across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. And Cybersight, Orbis’s e-learning and telehealth platform, reached a powerful milestone: over 100,000 registered users across 215 countries and territories. The platform received a $1 million endowment in 2024 to ensure it remains freely available to future generations of eye health professionals—people like Dr. Amr Hamzah, a remarkable pediatric ophthalmologist in Yemen who went from being a long-time user of Cybersight to presenting his first webinar on the platform this year.

Our Flying Eye Hospital took flight to Mongolia and Bangladesh, where we partnered with local teams to share knowledge, provide care, and build lasting skills. In this report, you’ll also read about the launch of Women Leaders in Eye Health, a powerful initiative sparking a new sense of empowerment and confidence for women in the profession.

All the stories you’ll read in this report are a testament to how technology—when made accessible—can change lives and futures. They also show that, even as we embrace innovation, the future of eye care will always be built on human connection, through community outreach, local trainers mentoring the next generation, and eye care professionals who understand the challenges their patients face. Because in the end, it’s the dedication, compassion, and collaboration of people that save sight—and that includes a global community of supporters like you who make this work possible.

Thank you for being part of this journey.

Diana Wheeler

Our firm belief that sight-saving care should be accessible to all is a legacy we owe to Dr. David Paton, a visionary ophthalmologist, and the other pioneers who helped launch Orbis International and our Flying Eye Hospital training facility, thereby enhancing the availability of eye care around the world. Their idea was that teaching others to provide, and advocating for, better eye care would improve the lives of millions of people, because building local expertise and influencing health systems are the bases on which sustainable care can grow exponentially in underserved communities. We honor Dr. Paton’s memory this year in the wake of his passing. The ground-breaking work Orbis is doing now is a testament to the spirit of innovation instilled within our organization from the start, furthering our mission to make access to eye care available to all.

That work makes a real, life-changing difference to patients and providers alike. Every year, our cutting-edge digital tools, our country programs, our healthcare and government partners, our unique Flying Eye Hospital, our Volunteer Faculty, and our donors and other supporters come together to help millions of people in more than 200 countries and territories. Over just the past decade, Orbis has enabled eye care professionals and health workers to complete more than 436,000 trainings. In that same period, Orbis-trained eye-health providers and partners of Orbis gave more than 22 million sight-saving eye screenings and exams at community outreach events, provided eye care to nearly 12 million patients at Orbis-supported health facilities, and distributed more than 87 million doses of trachoma-fighting antibiotics.

But with vision loss expected to grow by 55%, reaching 1.7 billion by 2050, we must continue not only to grow our impact, but also to ensure it reaches the people and places that need it most. Notably, nine out of ten people with vision loss live in low- and middle-income countries.

These are big challenges to meet, but with the support of our full community, all working together to scale ground-breaking and exciting innovations like those you’ll read about in this report, we can help even more eye care teams help even more people—faster, more efficiently, and in more places. That way, the next era of eye care can truly include everyone.

Thank you for your belief in our mission and your support.

Yours sincerely,

John Howitt