Twenty years of International Council of Ophthalmology fellowships: description of the programme and the impact on more than 1100 awardees.

The ICO Fellowship Programmes aim to promote the enhancement of eye care delivery and eye health in low-resource countries, the professional development of young leaders and the improvement of eye care. The results of the current study confirm the expectation of such a positive impact. Moreover, almost half of the responding participants have been appointed to a local leadership position in their home country.