OPC was founded in 1978 by Christian Monnier, a former banker, Professor André Dubois-Poulsen, former head of department at Hôpital des XV-XX and president of the French Society of Ophthalmology, and Pierre Aubé, a former financial advisor, who pooled their expertise in health, development, and finance, laying the groundwork for OPC’s future work.
As OPC’s first board president, André Dubois-Poulsen organized the first projects in Africa, including the “Yeleen” program in Mali, while OPC became a member of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB). Under the presidency of Professor Jean Langlois, former head of ophthalmology at Rouen University Hospital, the fight against onchocerciasis in West Africa became OPC’s priority, with interventions reaching 30 million people across 11 countries.
Succeeding Professor Langlois in 1997, Professor Yves Pouliquen, former head of ophthalmology at Hôtel-Dieu in Paris, strengthened the fight against onchocerciasis and trachoma in West Africa. OPC became a development partner with the health ministries of several francophone African countries and developed ophthalmology training programs for healthcare professionals.
Our commitment to francophone Africa
Over the years, OPC has established eye health programs in various countries, including Vietnam, France, Haiti, Moldova, and several francophone African nations. These initiatives have included diabetic retinopathy prevention, creating care networks for visual impairments, and providing high-performance diagnostic equipment to combat age-related macular degeneration.
In 2011, Professor Serge Resnikoff became President of OPC. A former head of the vision, hearing, and physical disabilities department at WHO, he’s involved in numerous blindness prevention organizations. The organization strengthened its collaboration with Anglo-Saxon funding partners, and its strategic plans—2016-2019 and 2020-2023—refocused OPC’s initiatives on francophone and lusophone African countries to address the lag these regions faced compared to anglophone Africa.
Key milestones
1978
Organization for the Prevention of Blindness founded
1979
OPC launches the "Yeleen" program in Mali, the first comprehensive and universal eye care program at the national level in an African country. 1,250,000 consultations and 23,000 surgeries performed over five years.
1992
OPC launches its first mass drug distribution campaign to fight onchocerciasis in West Africa. An average of three million people treated annually.
1998
OPC manages its first childhood blindness program in Vietnam, launches an eye care program in Moldova, and includes the Republic of Congo in its onchocerciasis program.
2000
OPC obtains "non-state actor in official relations with the World Health Organization (WHO)" status, marking a strong partnership with the organization.
2006
OPC, in collaboration with another French NGO, launches France's first national diabetic retinopathy screening program, still in operation today.
2011
OPC extends its comprehensive eye care programs to Niger and Guinea.
2014
Launch of the national trachoma elimination program in Chad and the first comprehensive and universal eye care program in Cameroon.
2020
What was meant to be the UN's "Year of Sight" is eclipsed by the COVID-19 pandemic. OPC still manages to help seven million people.