A staggering 90% of vision loss is treatable or preventable. That equates to 1 billion people on this planet living with vision loss from causes that are completely avoidable.
Vision loss often makes it harder for people to pursue an education, find and hold a job, engage in their community, and lead a prosperous life – and those bearing the greatest burden of vision loss already face other entrenched inequalities. Nine out of ten people with vision loss live in low- and middle-income countries, for example, and 55% are women and girls.
Many challenges perpetuate this unfair reality, including gaps in access to prevention and treatment services and wide disparities in the quality of care available, a lack of eye care professionals and limited training opportunities for those who do exist, and lack of integration of eye care with other health services, if those services are available at all.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Achieving Equitable Access to Eye Health Services for All
Our aim is to increase equitable access to eye health services and improve the quality of life of the communities we work with.
The Challenge
Orbis has an unwavering commitment to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) across all aspects of our work and within our organization, recognizing that doing so is critical to achieving our mission and to overcoming the systemic inequities that lead to avoidable vision loss.
DEI in practice: Saving Senowara's sight
For World Sight Day 2021, we focused on providing eye care to the Rohingya community during a global pandemic. Despite many challenges, the Orbis team stayed committed to our goal of providing access to eye care for the refugee community.
Our Diverse People and Workplace
- We are committed to achieving representation in all forms across our entire workforce, including our leadership, board, staff, and volunteers. Our strategic priorities for representation and inclusion are people with disabilities, gender, LGBTQIA+, and multicultural and multigenerational diversity.
- We aim to foster a workplace where every Orbis employee is respected, visible, enabled to do their best work, and treated equitably with opportunities for growth.
- We endeavor to ensure inclusive recruitment practices, equitable pay, and accessible career opportunities. We strive to provide safe, inclusive, respectful, and supportive physical and virtual work environments.
- We aim to have an organizational culture that encourages and embraces open dialogue, actively listening to diverse perspectives, and learning and continuous improvement, where staff feel safe and encouraged to test out new ideas and integrate learnings.
DEI in practice: Meet the amazing women transforming Zambia's eye health
Read the inspiring stories of the incredible women dedicated to saving sight and changing lives in Zambia. At Orbis, we know that one of the best ways to remove barriers to access for women and girls is to increase the number of women ophthalmologists.
Our Partners and the Communities Where We Work
- We endeavor to embed and practice DEI in our program designs to reach those who are most in need – especially women and girls, people with disabilities, ethnic minorities, and vulnerable and displaced populations – by removing critical and systemic barriers to sight-saving care across the world.
- As a leader and innovator in telemedicine and online learning, we are committed to growing the scale, reach, and opportunities for effective ophthalmic training and services so all people can access quality eye care when they need it, regardless of their location.
- We prioritize partnership with diverse and equity-focused entities, from local actors supporting communities where we work to global actors embracing DEI in their own organizations and advancing it externally.
DEI in practice: How Dr. Kotob uses Cybersight
Egypt-based ophthalmologist Dr. Doaa Kotob reflects on how her use of the telemedicine platform, Cybersight, has enhanced her professional development and confidence.
Our Commitment to Learn and Adapt
- We are focused on the design of inclusive strategies for our programs to address the issues respective groups and communities face. We are committed to developing the relevant technical expertise and allocating adequate resources to make these strategies a reality.
- We are placing greater emphasis on adapting and refining our efforts based on changes in local contexts or environments in areas where we work, emergent trends in the nonprofit and health sectors, and the needs of the most marginalized and deprived communities through active involvement and inclusion of multiple and diverse stakeholders.
- We will undertake periodic review of our governance processes to ensure that diverse perspectives inform and are reflected in our policies and procedures, and we will demonstrate an openness to evolving.
Our Commitment to Report Back
We are committed to regularly track and annually share progress on our DEI practices as well as areas where we must do more and accelerate our pace.
By integrating diversity, equity, and inclusion more deeply into our work and our organization, we will take on some of the greatest barriers to eye care, providing us with greater opportunities to effect meaningful change and transform lives through the prevention and treatment of avoidable vision loss.
More examples of DEI in practice
Partnering with BOSMA
Bosma Enterprises is the Orbis’s Flying Hospital long-term partner for warehousing supplies and equipment, inventory management, and logistics. Our largest supplier, Bosma provides meaningful employment for people with vision loss who otherwise face high unemployment rates in the US.
Over 50% of Bosma employees are blind or visually impacted, with two employees dedicated full-time to Orbis. Bosma Enterprises and donors support The Bosma Center for Visionary Solutions, which is the largest and most comprehensive provider of vision rehabilitation and training services in the state of Indiana in the US.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advisory Council
A collective of employees from around the world who are key stakeholders in activating change or have passion and experience to add to integrating diversity, equity, and inclusion more deeply into our work and organization.
The Advisory Council identifies, responds to, and advises on the priorities and actions needed to become an inclusive organization that embraces diversity and equity across all aspects of our work. Each member offers their perspective, seeks and shares the voices of colleagues, and adds global, national, and practical nuance to areas of action. The Advisory Council were critical contributors and applied an equity lens across Orbis’s Code of Conduct.
