OVERVIEW
The BBH Eye Foundation is a nonprofit, humanitarian foundation that supports comprehensive eye care services at no charge to low-resource communities in underdeveloped countries. We work in partnership with local and international organizations that share our values to assure the best possible use of scarce resources and to promote sustainable programs. We believe that good vision and access to eye care are inherent human rights. Our objective is to ensure that every child, woman, and man in communities where we work has access to high-quality ophthalmic care, including vision exams, cataract surgery, eyeglasses and appropriate medicines.
FOUNDERS/BOARD MEMBERS
BBH Eye Foundation was created in 2019 by three close friends, each with over four decades of experience in different aspects of eye care service.
Dr. Gary Barth, President of BBH Eye Foundation. Gary has not only established a successful private ophthalmology institute in the U.S. but has devoted years of service as a surgeon and trainer in developing countries, including India, Nepal, Vietnam, and Myanmar. He has served on multiple Boards of Directors of nonprofit organizations providing humanitarian services.
Mr. Jack Blanks, Executive Director of BBH. Jack has worked for international non-profit service organizations for his entire career of over 50 years, including 27 years in programs focusing on prevention of blindness and sight restoration.
Mr. Gary Hahn, Co-founder. As a dedicated philanthropist and promoter of international humanitarian assistance for over forty years, Gary has focused his resources and energy on the prevention of blindness and the restoration of sight initiatives worldwide. He has served on multiple Boards of Directors of nonprofit organizations that provide humanitarian services and that distribute philanthropy.
OUR IMPACT
Together we share a vision of a world without blindness and unnecessary visual impairment; a world where all people have access to quality eye care services.
To achieve this goal, our focus is on strengthening the capability of local partner organizations, eye hospitals, clinics, and communities to deliver the necessary volume and quality of vision services. We do this in a number of ways:
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Through training programs and infrastructure development (clinics and training facilities, equipment, supplies, fellowships, and on-going medical education), we seek to build locally sustainable programs that will thrive independently.
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By collaborating with partners that provide free or low-cost, high-quality cataract surgery to cure blindness. From 2019 through 2026, our program partners in Myanmar, Nepal, and Bangladesh conducted over 250,000 sight-restoring surgeries. These operations usually require less than 10 minutes and cost less than $50.
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We fund the provision of eye exams and glasses which enable adults to continue meaningful work, thus helping them support their families. Likewise, eye care and glasses help students succeed in school.
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By introducing community-based primary eye care in rural areas through primary eye care centers (PECCs) where services would not exist without these facilities. Managed by local partners, PECCs provide village-level access to basic eye care services to prevent blindness before it ever happens, and those in need of advanced care can be referred and transported to collaborating eye hospitals. As of August 2026, BBH has funded 30 PECCs in Nepal and one in Bangladesh.
OUR PARTNERS & WHERE WE WORK
As a small non-profit organization serving low-income communities, our goals would be unachievable without our local and international partners. In close collaboration with the Charity Health Foundation of Nepal (CHFN), we have established 30 primary eye care centers in the far western region of Nepal (our plan is to open 3 more centers by the end of 2027). Once established, these centers are operated sustainably by local municipalities and local non-profit organizations. BBH has also enabled our Nepal partners to open a new, fully equipped eye hospital, while continuing to support two other eye hospitals. We also fund outreach programs, including provision of vehicles and portable surgical equipment.
In Bangladesh, BBH supports Deep Eye Care Foundation's (DECF) program to establish a network of vision centers in rural communities. BBH also purchased two 40-seat buses to strengthen outreach and patient transport capacity, in addition to funding free cataract surgery for needy patients. In 2025, we funded the software and set-up of a 40-user electronic medical records (EMR) system to improve all aspects of the eye hospital’s functionality from patient management to research. In 2026, BBH is providing $37,000 in specialized equipment to support the newly established ophthalmology residency program at DECF.
In Myanmar, our four partner eye hospitals are located within or affiliated with Buddhist monasteries dedicated to providing free eye care and other vision services. Our support there includes infrastructure development, equipment and medical supplies, training for ophthalmic technicians and ophthalmology fellowships abroad for promising young physicians. By the end of 2026, the combined surgical capacity of these partner hospitals will reach 20,000 free cataract surgeries annually.
In 2026, BBH Eye Foundation continues to actively assist all of our non-governmental partners in Nepal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. As a small, agile foundation, we focus on quickly filling critical gaps in funding to enable our local partners to provide comprehensive services including training, infrastructure, outreach and clinical services as described above.
WHY SIGHT & WHY NEPAL, BANGLADESH, AND MYANMAR
The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness and WHO estimate that 1.1 billion people suffer from vision impairment. Nearly 80% of vision impairment can be prevented or cured. Over 100 million suffer from cataract, a condition that can be cured by a 10-minute operation. Uncorrected refractive errors affect 671 million people who simply need glasses! BBH Eye Foundation supports local programs that provide free surgery and free or low-cost glasses, while educating local populations to prevent blindness in the first place.
We enable our partners to provide free cataract surgery by subsidizing operations for less than $50 per eye. A pair of glasses (costing $1 to $8 depending on lens and frame type) brings the world into focus for adults and school children, allowing full, productive lives. What's more, medications to treat infections, glaucoma and other blinding diseases can be provided through primary and secondary eye care outreach programs delivered at the community level.
Nepal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar have over 260 million people. In most rural areas, over 1% of the general population suffers from blindness. In one of our project areas in Myanmar, the rate of blindness for the 50+ age group is nearly 7%. Lack of government facilities and staff in rural communities, poor roads and transportation, and extreme poverty make access to eye care extremely difficult. The establishment of primary eye care centers offering local eye care and referral to a partner hospital for free cataract surgery is a key objective for BBH Eye Foundation.
Restoring sight to one person not only relieves his or her suffering but frees up members of the family who must assist them with everyday necessities. Restoring impaired vision through glasses means that children can go to school and that adults can return to work to live productive lives. All of this means that the whole community will see a brighter future!
BBH Eye Foundation and our partners are committed to providing sight-saving services immediately, while building human and institutional capacity over time, leading to sustainable programs that provide compassionate and professional eye care for all.
SCHOOL SCREENING IN NEPAL
Beginning in 2025, the Charity Health Foundation Nepal (CHFN), launched a school vision screening program with financial support from BBH. The program's emphasis is on screening, treatment, and providing free eyeglasses for common eye disorders among children. This program is an important step towards assuring every student who needs eyeglasses will receive them free of charge. The program successfully conducted screenings in 33 schools, reaching a total of 5,039 students. Among those examined, 304 students were identified with refractive errors, accounting for 6.037% of the total screened population. Corrective eyeglasses were provided to 293 students, while 922 students received medical treatment for other ophthalmic conditions.
In 2026, BBH has provided a grants to CHFN and another local organization, No Limits Nepal, to undertake school vision screening programs. These two programs will screen 79 schools with a total student population of 9400. Assuring children’s ability to thrive academically by detecting and treating vision problems early in life is a major objective for BBH in Nepal.
UKRAINE FIRST RESPONDERS SIGHT SAFETY PROJECT
In June 2025, BBH launched its Ukraine First Responders Sight Safety Project.
First responders, medics and ordinance disposal teams often get overlooked when it comes to protective equipment. They’re not combat soldiers, but they’re right there in the danger zone. And with the rise of missile and drone strikes, and repeat hits on the same site, these workers are especially at risk.
At BBH Eye Foundation, we’re implementing a strategic plan in partnership with Eyecare for Ukraine www.eyecareforukraine.org to provide ballistic protective eyewear to those working in Ukraine’s warzones.
To date, 1,160 pairs of protective glasses and goggles have been delivered directly to the front lines. Gary Barth traveled to Ukraine twice this year to support the assessment process and personally place hundreds of pairs into the hands of those serving there.
Wherever we’re able to help, the goal is the same: prevent unnecessary blindness. If someone’s running toward a blast to save lives, the least we can do is make sure they don’t lose their sight doing it. They don’t look away from danger—and we shouldn’t look away from them.
HAITI — BUILDING SOMETHING PERMANENT
Since 2015, the Global Eye Project has operated the only comprehensive, full-time eye care program serving more than 500,000 people in rural southern Haiti. Led by a trained Haitian clinical team, the clinic has delivered more than 140,000 free eye exams and provides up to 15,000 patient visits annually from borrowed space inside a rural mission hospital. That space will no longer be available after 2027, putting this vital program at risk without a permanent home.
In the spring of 2026, BBH joined the effort to help secure its future. GEP has acquired land and partnered with Architects Without Borders to design a permanent eye care center. More than $250,000 has been raised toward the $750,000 goal, including $52,000 from BBH. We will continue to seek support for this much-needed comprehensive eye care facility.