JFF Annual Appeal

Message from JFF Australia Chair:
Professor Bill Morgan

May 2025

Dear JFF friends and supporters,

Thank you for your continued support over the last 12 months which has been wonderful. $200,000 received last year enabled us to purchase two new ophthalmic microscopes and other essential medical equipment. We’ve also witnessed incredible voluntary work from people stimulating others to donate and visit our offshore eye programs. An electronic medical records (EMR) developer donated his time for the commissioning of an EMR system that can be used in remote situations. We held two large fundraising events run by volunteers that have contributed to those incoming funds.

A new camera donated by the University of Western Australia Optometry School and the Perth Eye Foundation has been field-tested at UWA and the Lions Eye Institute. This new camera and the microscopes are currently being prepared for transport with special cases being built for their transfer to Indonesia, which will occur in the next few weeks. There is great excitement amongst our Balinese staff and collaborators at the University of Udayana, who provide many of the young doctors in training and surgeons who perform cataract surgery. We have recently calculated that just over 20% of our screened population may have diabetes and a significant proportion are likely to have glaucoma. The extra equipment will enable our staff and colleagues to diagnose diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma in the field. They have been collaborating with us and our young eye surgeon trainees here in Perth to establish protocols and data analytic systems to facilitate the detection and treatment of these diseases amongst our patients.

We have been made increasingly aware of the plight of many people in East Java, which is literally a 30-minute ferry ride from Bali, to which fortunately our mobile eye clinics can travel. Four million people in East Java live below the poverty line, which makes it one of the poorest districts in Indonesia. We have been increasing our offshore eye programs to the islands surrounding Bali including those to the east and north, and in particular to East Java. Last year we performed 11 offshore eye programs. This year we are ramping up these to 14 or 15 programs, an additional 35%. This would not be possible without the incredible support from you, our donor family, who have donated so generously to our general funds, but also more specifically to offshore eye programs.

This year we need an extra $150,000 to help cover the costs of running these extra offshore programs which will generate an extra 600 to 700 cataract surgeries above the predicted 4,000, plus large numbers of patients screened including the nascent detection of other eye diseases. The people we serve are our poorest, but closest neighbours, and your contribution can make a huge difference to their lives. As John Fawcett said:

‘They are blind because they are poor, and they are poor because they are blind’.

Your support is helping us to break this cycle. The extra funds are also needed for the packing cases, transport and installation of the new equipment, and new diagnostic equipment for the improved assessment of patients prior to surgery. Most of our current diagnostic equipment is 25 years old, and unfortunately some of those machines have become non-functional in the last 12 months.
I am hoping that you will support us in our appeal. I am delighted with our achievements over the last year, particularly when some of the operating conditions were difficult because of the general elections held in Indonesia in early 2024. This year we are aiming to perform close to 5,000 cataract surgeries and screen over 54,000 patients. This is achievable with your support.

Thank you once again for being part of our family, and I look forward to seeing some of you in the field in Indonesia.