ORBIS – 30 Years of Saving Sight

285 million people in the world are visually impaired; one more child goes blind every minute
ORBIS believes everyone has the “right to sight” ORBIS envisions nobody In this world will be unnecessarily blind!

Since the inaugural flight to Panama in 1982, the ORBIS Flying Eye hospital and the ORBIS team started their long journey to save sight worldwide. As a global nonprofit organization, ORBIS has worked in 89 countries to train eye care professional and restore sight. ORBIS is dedicated to prevent and treat blindness through hands-on training, capacity building for local healthcare partners, public health education and improved access to quality eye care, in an effort to empower local partners to reach a state where they can provide, on their own, quality eye care services that are affordable, accessible and sustainable.

According to the World health Organization, one child goes blind every minute.
Nevertheless, through prevention, proper treatment or surgical intervention, up to 80% of the visual impairment could be avoided. This is the vision that drives ORBIS, we believes everyone has the right to sight!

Over the past three decades, ORBIS had carried out more than 1.000 programs, enhanced the skills of more than 288,000 eye health care personnel and provided quality eye care treatment to over 15 million people. Unfortunately, there are still over 39 million sightless people living in total darkness, waiting for our help.
In tribute to the 30th anniversary of ORBIS’ sight-saving work, Macao Post and ORBIS joined hands to release an issue of commemorative stamps with the theme “ORBlS - 30 Years of Saving Sight”, aiming to raise public awareness on the global blindness problem, the hardship suffered by the visually impaired and the importance of healthy eye-sight.

Harmonized with the theme of “30 Years of Saving Sight”, the principal concept of the two stamps highlighted the core values of ORBIS’ mission:

. The world’s only Flying Eye hospital is literally a teaching hospital with wings that brings together dedicated eye care professionals and aviators to give the gift of sight to developing countries around the world:

. Over 500 Volunteer Faculty worked tirelessly over the past 30 years to leave a lasting legacy by training medical professionals in poor nations to treat and teach quality eye care in their own communities:

. Blindness can trap a family and an entire community in a cycle of poverty as lack of sight limits independence: by restoring a person’s vision means benefiting the whole family and the society at large.

. Identifying eye care needs through sight screening activities in remote and underserved areas is always a major component of ORBIS’ mission: prevention is always more cost-effective than treatment in the fight against blindness.

While sharing our 30-year achievements with supporters through the issuance of the commemorative stamps, ORBIS would like to ride on this campaign to cordially invite the Macao Community to also show their care for the sightless in other parts of the world. ORBlS gratefully acknowledges the long-term generous support of the Macao SAR Government and Macao Post, whose eontnbution to the stamp issuance is invaluable.

In the years ahead, ORBIS will continue to devote its greatest efforts in saving sight, serving as a catalyst for fostering community cooperation for the benefit of all mankind.

ORBIS Macau

The Stamps:

The Sheetlet:

The FDC with Stamps:

The Post Mark:

Dados Técnicos/Technical Data

Valor dos Selos/Stamps Value: two stamps of 1.50 and 5.00 Patacas

The postal value of the two stamps are 1.50 and 5.00 patacas respectively, the surcharge of each stamp is 1.00 pataca. The surcharge of the stamps sold will be offered to ORBIS Macau in support to their action of saving sight.

Folhas Miniatura com duas séries/Minisheets with four sets

Desenho/Design: Ao Kuan Kin

Data emissão/Issue date: 09.10.2012

Impressor/Printer: Cartor Security Printing, France

Impressão/Print: Offset Lithography

Papel/Paper: Paper with Security Fibers

Picotagem/Perforation: 13 x 13¼