Vision Aid Overseas
| Founded | 1985 |
|---|---|
| Type | UK registered charity |
| Focus | Optometry |
| Location | |
|
Area served
|
Africa |
| Product | Optometry |
| Method | Direct delivery |
|
Key people
|
Bryony Ellis, founder Honorary VP: Fiona Bruce Honorary VP: Sir Trevor MacDonald |
|
Revenue
|
£500k - £1M |
|
Employees
|
Full time: 6 Part time: 3 |
|
Volunteers
|
300 |
| Website | Vision Aid Overseas |
Vision Aid Overseas (VAO) is a registered charity in the United Kingdom, which provides optical aid and services to developing countries in Africa.
In 1985, a group of British optometrists and dispensing opticians each took two weeks out of their businesses to establish clinics in Tanzania, where they tested the eyes of local people and dispensed second-hand spectacles collected in UK. After the project gained publicity via the media and resultant public support, they formalised their efforts by registering the charity Vision Aid Overseas in 1987.
Founded on the delivery of direct service to patient, since registering as a charity, VAO has operated direct service clinics in 23 countries and tested the eyes of over 600,000 patients, helping over 350,000 people to see with a pair of spectacles.
In the 1997 New Years Honours list, founder Brian Ellis was awarded the MBE.
VAO today focuses it operations around three core services:
VAO presently runs sustainable projects in five target countries: Ethiopia, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Uganda, and Zambia.
VAO Honorary Vice Presidents include competing newsreaders Fiona Bruce of the BBC, and Sir Trevor MacDonald of ITV News. In February 2005 Bruce did the voice over for VAO's Lifeline Appeal, and in 2007 launched VAO's Annual Review.
The charity has formalised its relationship with the UK eye care industry, and is often the chosen charity supported by many dispensing opticians, and professionals via the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers, who collect old spectacles from customers for recycling via VAO.
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Wikipedia