OUR STORY
About Us
The African Eye Foundation was founded in 2010 by South African ophthalmologists Dr Andrew Boliter and Dr Stephen Cook in response to the urgent need for accessible eye care in the Eastern Cape, where many rural and underserved communities continue to face limited access to specialist services.
What began as a commitment to restoring sight through humanitarian care has grown into a broader mission to strengthen eye care for the future. Today, the Foundation supports the training of healthcare professionals, creates opportunities for affordable treatment and advances innovative screening solutions that allow disease to be detected earlier and care to reach more people.
By combining our original commitment to patients with investment in people, partnerships and technology, we aim to restore sight today while building sustainable eye-care capacity for generations to come.
BUILDING CAPACITY
Training
Training People to Create Access
Improving access to eye care requires more than providing individual treatments. It requires developing skilled healthcare professionals who can continue delivering quality services within their own communities. For this reason, training young ophthalmologists and medical officers is central to the work of the African Eye Foundation.
Annual Examination Preparation and Training Wet Labs
Each year, the African Eye Foundation hosts examination-preparation programmes and practical wet-laboratory sessions for ophthalmology registrars and medical officers, in collaboration with The Eye Centre and the East London Day Hospital.
These programmes combine focused academic preparation with practical examination techniques and hands-on skills development. Participants can practise in a structured, supportive environment, learn from experienced ophthalmologists and build confidence before applying these skills in examinations and patient care.
Microsurgical Skills Training
The Foundation also hosts smaller, focused wet-laboratory courses that give participants dedicated time to develop and refine specific surgical techniques.
Training includes basic microsurgical skills, phacoemulsification cataract surgery and glaucoma surgery. Small-group teaching allows participants to receive individual guidance, repeat key steps and develop the control and confidence required for safe surgery.
In-House Clinical and Surgical Training
At The Eye Centre, the African Eye Foundation contributes to the clinical and surgical development of young ophthalmologists and medical officers through supervised, real-world training opportunities.
Developing surgeons gain practical experience while helping to provide low-cost or donated care to patients who may otherwise struggle to access treatment. This model creates a shared benefit: patients receive more affordable care today, while young eye-care professionals develop the skills needed to expand surgical capacity for the future.
By linking training directly to service delivery, the Foundation creates a sustainable pathway from education to stronger community eye-care services.
EXTENDING REACH
Retinal Screening and Innovation
Screen For Life
The retina offers a unique window into both eye health and the health of the wider body. A simple retinal photograph can reveal signs of disease before symptoms appear and, when combined with artificial intelligence, may also identify patterns linked to future cardiovascular, metabolic and systemic risk. By bringing these technologies into accessible screening pathways, we can help more people understand their health earlier, access appropriate care and make informed changes to live healthier for longer.
SugarWave: Bringing Retinal AI into Practice
To translate the potential of retinal artificial intelligence into practical care, the African Eye Foundation established SugarWave. SugarWave brings together carefully selected AI technologies, quality assurance and real-world clinical workflows so that healthcare professionals can introduce retinal screening into their practices with confidence.
The platform is designed to support the full screening journey – from image capture and analysis to reporting, referral and follow-up – while ensuring that technology is used responsibly and in a clinically meaningful way.
Diabetic Retinopathy Screening - Available Now
AI-assisted diabetic retinopathy screening is live and available through the SugarWave platform. A retinal photograph can be analysed rapidly to identify signs of diabetic eye disease and help determine which patients require routine follow-up or referral for specialist care.
This gives practices and organisations a practical way to add screening to existing services, reach patients earlier and help prevent avoidable vision loss. We welcome enquiries from healthcare practices, employers, medical schemes and community programmes interested in offering the service.
RetiPhenoAge and the Future of Oculomics
The retina may reveal far more than eye disease. RetiPhenoAge, which is approaching launch on SugarWave, uses a retinal photograph to estimate biological ageing and provide insight into health and lifestyle-related risk.
It is part of the emerging field of oculomics, where AI identifies retinal patterns associated with the health of the wider body. As the evidence and technology develop, additional AI tools may offer insights linked to cardiovascular, metabolic, neurological and other systemic risks.
These innovations create an exciting opportunity to move screening beyond the early detection of disease towards more personalised and preventive healthcare.
Training People to Work With AI
Safe and effective screening depends on trained people as well as reliable technology. Through SugarWave and EYEcuity, the Foundation supports non-ophthalmologist healthcare professionals to capture high-quality retinal images, grade diabetic retinopathy, understand AI results and manage complete screening programmes.
Structured training opportunities are available, and an online course is being developed to make this training accessible to a wider audience. By combining practical education with responsible technology, we aim to help individuals and organisations build sustainable screening services of their own.
MAKE AN IMPACT
Support Our Work
Your support helps us create opportunities that would not otherwise exist – from examination preparation and microsurgical wet labs to supervised surgical training, affordable patient care and the responsible expansion of retinal screening. Every contribution strengthens both the care available today and the people and systems that will serve communities in the future.
Funds support
- Examination preparation and wet labs
- Microsurgical and surgical skills training
- Supervised training linked to low-cost patient care
- Retinal screening, education and early-detection initiatives
Development of accessible training programmes and responsible AI implementation
SUPPORT THE FOUNDATION
Donate now
Sponsor a training opportunity
Support a patient or surgery
Partner on a screening initiative
Leave a bequest
LET’S COLLABORATE
Contact Us
We are passionate about growing practical, sustainable solutions through collaboration. Whether you would like to attend a course, introduce retinal screening into your practice, support a training initiative, sponsor patient care or explore a partnership, we would be pleased to hear from you.
Together, we can restore sight, develop skills and bring quality eye care within reach of more people.