In August 2025, we were honored to sit down with Caroline Casey, president of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), a global alliance of more than 250 organizations in the eye health sector across more than 100 countries.

A new EyesOnTomorrow podcast episode went live on World Sight Day 2025, featuring Orbis’s Gender Equity Advisor at Orbis International and Main Lead of the Women Leaders in Eye Health, Rose Namukwai. alongside global leaders in eye health. Together, they discuss the barriers women and girls face in accessing eye care, and the inspiring solutions leading the way toward equity.

The Women Leaders in Eye Health initiative has launched Advancing Gender Equity in Global Eye Healthcare, the first non-clinical Gender and Eye Health course in English on Orbis’s Cybersight platform. This free course, developed through WLEH’s Training and Capacity Building for Gender Equality workstream, provides practical tools and real-world insights to help integrate gender equity into global eye health practice.

WLEH has officially launched its first Women’s Circles Facilitator Training — creating safe, connected spaces for women in eye health to share, learn, and lead together. Led by Dr. Catherine Hansen, this milestone marks the beginning of a global movement for mentorship, inclusion, and collective growth in eye health leadership.

Discover how women are transforming rural health and redefining what leadership looks like. This blog post, written by our WLEH team, highlights the powerful role women play in driving community-based solutions, strengthening eye care systems, and inspiring change.

WLEH held its first in-person Gender Champions and Partners’ Meeting in Addis Ababa, bringing together Seva Foundation, Orbis International, and Gender Champions from across the region to strengthen collaboration and advance women’s leadership in eye health.

Women Leaders in Eye Health was recently featured on Asaase Radio Ghana, highlighting the inaugural WLEH Conference in the Ashanti Region. The article spotlights how the event united women across Ghana’s eye health sector to advance mentorship, leadership, and gender equity under the theme “Mentorship, Breaking Barriers; Building Legacies.”

A new peer-reviewed article in Healthcare spotlights WLEH as a model for advancing gender equity in eye health through mentorship, collaboration, and leadership development.

On International Nurses Day, we spotlight Zambian ophthalmic nurse and WLEH grant recipient, Sr. Maggie Mukuka. Discover how her 26 years of sight-saving dedication and her transformative experience as an international speaker prove that empowering nurses creates a powerful ripple effect across global eye health systems.

On World Health Day, Dr. Nonhlanhla Majola, one of our Professional Development Grant awardees, shared a powerful reflection on the need for women in eye health to unite:"Speaking to many female ophthalmologists from around the world, I’ve realized that we have common problems. We share more in common than we realize. Now, it’s time to work together to fight and solve those problems”.

On this International Women’s Day, we’re celebrating the achievements of women in eye health and highlighting the inspiring journey of Dr. Fatma Shakarchi, one of our 2024 WLEH Professional Development Grant recipients, from Iraq!