Instituto da Visão - IPEPO, the Altino Ventura Foundation and the UNICAMP Ophthalmology Service

The 2019 António Champalimaud Vision Award recognises the Instituto da Visão - IPEPO, the Altino Ventura Foundation and the UNICAMP Ophthalmology Service, three longstanding organisations that have worked to prevent blindness and visual impairment, by providing eye services to underserved populations, in Brazil.

The Instituto da Visão-IPEPO, making use of telemedicine and other new technologies, has provided cataract surgical services, free glasses, and tertiary eye care covering a population of over 2 million people in Metropolitan São Paulo, the Amazon and beyond.

The Altino Ventura Foundation, based in Pernambuco in Northeast Brazil, one of the poorest regions of South America, has worked throughout the region to eliminate blindness, and rehabilitate the visually impaired.

The UNICAMP Ophthalmology Service, part of one of Brazil's top university hospitals, initiated the first cataract-free-zone project in Latin America, a true public health-based approach to the treatment and prevention of blindness.

Overcoming barriers of poverty and geography, these three outstanding organisations have helped address the eye care needs of disadvantaged populations in Brazil for over 30 years.