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Orbis International is an international non-profit non-governmental organization (NGO) dedicated to saving sight worldwide. Orbis programs focus on the prevention of blindness and the treatment of blinding eye diseases in developing countries. Since 1982, Orbis capacity-building programs have enhanced the skills of 325,000 eye care personnel and provided medical and optical treatment to more than 23.3 million people in 92 countries.〔http://www.orbis.org/Default.aspx?cid=10449&lang=1〕 Orbis is well known for its "Flying Eye Hospital," an ophthalmic hospital and teaching facility located on board a DC-10 jet aircraft, which is one of the only non-cargo examples in flight today. Orbis volunteer pilots fly the plane and its international medical team to developing countries around the world to teach urgently needed sight-saving skills. Local patients receive free treatment during this training.〔http://www.orbis.org〕 Orbis is headquartered in New York, with offices in Toronto, London, Dublin, Hong Kong, Macau, Shanghai, Taipei and Cape Town. In addition to the Flying Eye Hospital, Orbis operates hospital-based programs in several countries and works with local medical research and health-care organizations on blindness prevention and eye disease treatment. An Orbis telemedicine program called (Cybersight ) uses the Internet to connect eye care professionals for one-on-one collaboration and mentoring.〔http://www.orbis.org/pages/telehealth/〕 Orbis is a founding partner, along with the World Health Organization, of ''VISION 2020: The Right to Sight,'' "a worldwide concerted effort designed to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020." Orbis is a registered 501(c)(3) tax-deductible non-profit charity in the United States.〔http://www.orbis.org〕 == History == Orbis was founded in 1982 with a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and a number of private donors. The first Flying Eye Hospital was a Douglas DC-8-21 (N220RB) donated by United Airlines. In its first two years of operation, the Orbis DC-8 visited 24 countries and held programs emphasizing the hands-on transfer of surgical skills. By the late 1980s, as replacement parts for the aging DC-8 became more difficult and expensive to obtain, it became clear that a newer, larger aircraft was needed. Funded by private donations, Orbis purchased its current DC-10 in 1992. The DC-10 contained twice the interior space of the original DC-8. After two years of conversion and renovation, it was placed in service in 1994, and the DC-8 was retired and donated to Datangshan museum near Beijing. That summer, the new Flying Eye Hospital took off on its inaugural mission to Beijing, China. In 1998, Orbis embarked on a new path based on the strategy to strengthen the capacity of local partners in the developing world to prevent and treat blindness through full-time, ongoing in-country programs. These programs were designed to respond to the needs of individual ophthalmic communities and local eye care providers. Orbis selected the first initial five countries to work in year round based on need (magnitude of blindness), opportunity (local infrastructure and resources), and safety & stability to operate in-country. Orbis launched its first permanent country program in Ethiopia. Country programs in Bangladesh, China, India and Vietnam soon followed. In 2010 Orbis established a country program office in South Africa. Permanent Orbis offices in these countries, run by local staff, develop and implement an array of multi-year projects to improve the quality and accessibility of eye care to residents, particularly in rural area and impoverished urban communities. In addition to permanent country offices, Orbis also engages in long-term program work in several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean as well is in countries including Nepal, Zambia, and Burkina Faso. In 2012, Orbis Celebrated its 30th Anniversary of Saving Sight Worldwide. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Orbis International」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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