Sir John Foster Wilson CBE (20 January 1919 – 25 November 1999) was a British public health advocate, best known for working to prevent blindness in developing countries in Africa and South and South East Asia.
He was born in Nottinghamshire,[1] the son of the Reverend George Henry Wilson, a Methodist minister.
[5] Wilson was involved in founding several organisations, most notably the Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind (now known as Sightsavers International) - of which he became the first director in 1950 - but also Disability Awareness in Action, the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness and IMPACT.
At his instigation, the World Health Organization established the first International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, of which he served as president from 1974 until his retirement in 1982.
[8] The Sir John Wilson School, Dhaka, was established in his honour in Bangladesh, in 1995.