In a milestone moment for eye health in Uganda, the Ministry of Health has officially received thousands of reading glasses to support a groundbreaking national Community Health Worker (CHW) pilot on 30 July 2025. This pilot is a first of its kind for integrated delivery via the government's community health structures.
This Ministry-led initiative is being implemented with support from EYElliance and the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), and marks a significant step toward integrating primary eye care into community health systems.
The pilot integrates vision screening and the dispensing of reading glasses into services delivered by Uganda’s community health workers, known as Village Health Teams. More than 16,000 reading glasses are targeted for delivery in Kaliro District as part of the pilot’s rollout.
With over six million Ugandans experiencing visual impairment—including an estimated 400,000 who are completely blind—addressing poor vision is a pressing public health imperative. This pilot aims to demonstrate how eye health can be effectively integrated into existing community health structures and systems, and scaled sustainably.
“Many Ugandans live with poor vision, which often requires assistive devices like reading glasses. Vision loss deeply affects a person’s quality of life, their ability to work, contribute, even count money. It has a real socio-economic impact—on individuals, families, and national development.”— Dr. Charles Olaro, Director General of Health Services, Ministry of Health
At EYElliance, we believe that one of the most effective proven paths to solving the global eyeglasses gap is by embedding vision services into public health systems. This pilot in Uganda is a critical example of that strategy in action. Our work focuses on systems change: we support governments to lead, coordinate, and scale access to eyeglasses through their national health systems.
In support of this ethos and together, with CHAI, we have provided deep technical assistance to the government, to ensure that delivery is embedded in and aligned with national guidelines for community health, the national supply chain, CHW training, and routine health data collection.
Enlisting CHAI as a strategic partner has been a vital part of this effort. CHAI brings deep expertise in supporting governments to strengthen health systems across infectious and non-communicable diseases, reproductive health, disability inclusion, and more. Their role in the community health workers pilot is helping ensure strong implementation, while laying the policy and systems groundwork for long-term scale.
With the glasses now in-country, and training rollout slated for August 2025, Village Health Teams in Kaliro district will be able to begin providing eye screening and dispensing reading glasses to their community members by September 2025.
“In Uganda, we’ve partnered with the Ministry of Health across a range of programs—from infectious and non-communicable diseases to sexual and reproductive health, malaria vaccines, and health system strengthening. Through this collaboration, we recognized the challenges faced by people with disabilities and are now supporting the Ministry in building systems to better serve them. We’re starting with eye health, as it is the most prevalent need. The glasses donated today as part of a pilot are just the beginning—we’ve also helped develop strategies, policies, and guidelines to lay a strong foundation for this effort."— Ms. Joy Batusa, Country Director, CHAI Uganda
This initiative also reflects a growing global recognition: salaried, skilled, and supported community health workers can extend essential eye health services to millions living in rural and remote areas. More and more countries are moving to integrate eye health into national community health worker strategies—and Uganda is helping lead the way.
Source: Media coverage from the handover event as reported on https://x.com/MinofHealthUG/status/1950123771416686851, https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/uganda-rolls-out-over-40-000-low-cost-reading-glasses-5137686, and https://youtu.be/2FM5rbeDvTY?feature=shared.
Cover photo: Dr. Charles Olaro, Director General of Health Services at the Ministry of Health, receives the reading glasses from Ms. Joy Batusa, CHAI Uganda Country Director, during the official handover at Ministry headquarters in Kampala on July 30, 2025. Photo by Sylvia Namagembe.
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