Dr Howard Harper

Dr Howard Harper (1930 – 2011) was a pioneering medical missionary in Central Asia for 50 years. After qualifying as an ophthalmologist in the 1960s, he ran a number of eye camps in Pakistan before moving to Afghanistan where he established the Noor Eye Hospital in Kabul.

Following a military coup, he moved to Iran and trained eye surgeons, taught at Tehran University, and worked at a leprosy mission. In the 1980s.

Howard returned to England and founded Vision International, enabling him to continue his work in Central Asia. He also established a large eye hospital in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.  

In 2002, Dr Howard was the second foreigner to be granted Afghani citizenship and given a passport.

He is the recipient of the prestigious Augusta award from Auckland Grammar School and a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons.