Fighting Blindness in Bangladesh

Our Flying Eye Hospital first touched down in Bangladesh in 1985 and initiated the country’s first training programs for optometrists and opticians. To support long-term projects, we created a permanent office in Dhaka in 1999.

Over the years, we’ve made tremendous progress in combating avoidable blindness. Through our work with 14 partners in all eight divisions across the country, we’re reaching more than half a million people a year. Since that first visit, we’ve trained more than 23,000 medical professionals in ophthalmic specialties including pediatric ophthalmology, retina, vitreous humor, cataract, glaucoma and cornea.

In fact, in 2020 alone we delivered:

We’ve conducted screenings of around five million adults and children and have provided treatments to nearly 3.7 million people. We helped establish 10 pediatric eye care centers in Bangladesh, 22 vision centers in remote and underserved areas, 1,000 community-based outreach programs, and the country’s first modern eye bank. We also contributed significantly to developing the National Eye Care plan under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, which has been incorporated by the government.

Your support has made it possible for us to cover a broad range of activities including: treating diabetic retinopathy (DR), expanding retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) services across the country, training eye health professionals, strengthening eye care facilities, creating new referral systems and quality assurance standards, building public awareness, and driving policy and advocacy work to integrate primary eye care into primary healthcare. Our work focuses on rural and underserved populations and strengthening our partners with the tools, training, and necessary technology to provide quality eye care services that are affordable, accessible and sustainable.

We work to promote quality eye care and best practice in eye health in collaboration with government, international and national NGOs. Below is a list of some of the fantastic institutions we work alongside.

Public/Government

• National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital (NIO&H) – Government apex institute and hospital under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

Non-profit Organizations/NGOs

• BRAC
• Grameen GC Eye Care Hospital, Bogra
• Chittagong Eye Infirmary & Training Complex (CEITC)
• Ispahani Islamia Eye Institute & Hospital (IIEI&H), Dhaka and its district level branch hospitals
• Dr. K. Zaman BNSB (Bangladesh National Society for the Blind) Eye Hospital in Mymensingh
• BNSB (Bangladesh National Society for the Blind) Hospital in Khulna
• Gausul Azam BNSB (Bangladesh National Society for the Blind) Eye Hospital in Dinajpur
• Moulvibazar BNSB (Bangladesh National Society for the Blind) Eye Hospital
• Bangladesh Jatiya Andho Kallyan Samity, Comilla
• Bangladesh Diabetic Association (BADAS) – the network of over 54 diabetic hospitals across the country
• Voluntary Association for Rural Development (VARD), Sylhet
• Mazharul Haque BNSB (Bangladesh National Society for the Blind) Eye Hospital, Chandpur
• De'ep Eye Care Foundation, Rangpur