Your Impact
Fundraising for Sydney Harbour Hike supports The Fred Hollows Foundation's work of ending avoidable blindness in currently 25 countries around the world.
Your fundraising will have far-reaching and long-lasting consequences - not only for those whose sight is restored but also for their families and the wider community.
What exactly is avoidable blindness?
In developing countries, 9 out of 10 people who are blind don’t need to be. Eye diseases like cataract, trachoma and diabetic retinopathy can lead to blindness when, in fact they’re either treatable or preventable.
The reason people live with blindness is that they can’t access or afford quality eye health care. In many cases, a 10-minute operation can restore sight or a dose of antibiotics can prevent blindness.
So many millions of people are blind simply because they live in poverty. The incredible injustice of this is the driving force behind our work.
Please take a minute to watch this short clip about our work:
The impact of restoring sight goes beyond treating blindness. In our research, we discovered that alleviating blindness is an effective way of reducing poverty in the developing world. If more people in a nation can see, more people can go to school, work, raise children, or start businesses. Ending avoidable blindness improves the economy, equality, skills and development of a country, while reducing its financial and social burden.
