Operation Sight wins SDG Programme of the Year award
We’re thrilled to announce that Operation Sight has been awarded the SDG Programme of the Year at the Development 2030 Awards.
This prestigious recognition celebrates innovative, high-impact initiatives that advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals in the Global South. Our partnership with Orbis International, CIFF, and the Ethiopian Ministry of Health was recognised for its transformative work verifying trachoma trichiasis (TT) surgeries and strengthening data integrity at scale.
Valentin Courtay, Operation Sight Project Manager at Simprints, receives the prestigious award at Aidex 2025.
Photo credit: Marc Bader
Transforming eye care
- Operation Sight has achieved remarkable success in Ethiopia, significantly reducing the trachoma trichiasis (TT) surgery backlog.
- By integrating robust fingerprint and contactless face biometrics, the programme has accurately identified, tracked, and followed up with over 48,000 patients, ensuring traceability and accountability for 85% of all digitally recorded surgeries.
- This pioneering approach has not only enhanced accuracy and efficiency in frontline service delivery—making patient identification up to eight times faster than manual methods—but it has also fostered greater patient trust and acceptance, with a 92% acceptance rate for face biometrics in pilot areas.
Alexandra Grigore, Simprints’ Chief Strategy Officer, reflected on the collaboration:
“The Operation Sight project is special because of the commitment and hard work being undertaken, not just by Simprints, but by all our partners — Orbis International and the Ethiopia team, the Federal Ministry of Health Ethiopia, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), Fred Hollows Foundation, and the Carter Centre. This award is shared by us all together — we are proud to partner with you.
I also want to give thanks to the often unsung heroes — the integrated eye care workers. They perform sight-saving surgeries for communities day in and day out. Their skill, drive, commitment, and openness to embracing a new technology to aid their work is so admirable — we dedicate this award to them.”
New pathways to improved sight care
As Operation Sight continues through 2025, this award affirms what collaboration and innovation can achieve. Together, Orbis, Simprints, and the Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health are showing the world how technology can unlock new pathways to improved sight care—and help bring us closer to a future free from avoidable blindness.
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