New CEO to lead Global Alliance to Eliminate Vision Impairment

Peter Holland is the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness’ (IAPB) new Chief Executive.

Immediate Release: The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) is delightedto announce the appointment of Peter Holland as its new CEO. Peter brings extensive experience in public health and international relations to IAPB.

Currently CEO of OPM Group, a UK-based research consultancy, Peter has also worked in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the NHS and the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) gathering a wide range of experience in building impactful partnerships, delivering complex projects and developing and implementing strategy. With 146 member organisations from around the world, IAPB will greatly benefit from Peter’s skills in building strong stakeholder relationships and from his success in translating policyinto action.

“It is time for IAPB—and the eye health sector—to consolidate our gains and redouble our efforts at eliminating avoidable vision impairment” said Bob McMullan, President, IAPB. “The role attracted a strong field, but Peter’s unique combination of skills and experience made him a unanimous choice for the board. We are very excited to work with Peter in ensuring a world with the best standards of eye health for all.”

Peter Holland said “I am very excited to be joining IAPB. There are more than 250 million in the world who are blind or visually impaired. For more than three quarters of them, there are simple, effective and inexpensive solutions with can prevent or treat their sight loss. I am looking forward to working with our members and partners to ensure people to get the treatments they need and eliminate avoidable sight loss worldwide.”

The eye health sector has had some remarkable accomplishments— such as the endgame in eliminating Trachoma. But new data shows that decades of declining “avoidable blindness”—those with curable conditions such asthe need for spectacles and cataract—is plateauing, and is projected to increase between 2015 and 2050. With an ageing and growing global population, existing efforts are at serious risk of being overwhelmed, leading to a threefold increase in blindness by 2050.

IAPB has just released the IAPB Vision Atlas, a key resourceof the latest data and evidence on the prevalence of vision impairment. The agency is also working with the World Health Organization and other stakeholders in delivering the objectives of the WHO’s “Universal Eye Health: Global Action Plan” by the year 2019.

Key facts

  • 36 million people who are blind
  • 217 million people with moderate or severe distance vision impairment
  • Of those with blindness and MSVI, 124million people have uncorrected refractive errors and 65 million have cataract—more than 75% of all blindness and MSVI is avoidable
  • 253 million people blind or vision impaired (in 2015)
  • 1.1 billion people with near-vision impairment
  • The prevalence of blindness and vision impairment combined has dropped from 4.58% in 1990 to 3.37% in 2015.
  • 89% of vision impaired people live in low and middle-income countries
  • 55% of moderate or severely vision impaired people are women

Notes to Editors:

About IAPB

The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) is the coordinating membership organisation leading international efforts in blindness prevention activities. IAPB’s mission is to eliminate the main causes of avoidable blindness and visual impairment by bringing together governments and non-governmental agencies to facilitate the planning, development and implementation of sustainable national eye care programmes.

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Peter Holland

Peterhas over 25 years of diplomatic, civil service, public health and third sector experience. He started his career in the NHS, spending 10 years developing primary services in south London before joining the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. His roles there included postings to India, senior policy roles on counter narcotics and Afghanistan, and negotiating international intellectual property agreements. Since

leaving the Civil Service, he has been Group Head of Strategy at the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) and, since 2015, Chief Executive of OPM Group, a research consultancy. He brings extensive experience of leading in major organisations such as HMRC and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and of tackling complex and controversial international issues. Peter was a Harkness fellow in health services at the University of Washington in 1992/3.

Media Contacts:

Tejah Balantrapu; Communications Manager, IAPB;