Eyeglasses for Global Development: Bridging the Visual Divide

On 27 June 2016, EYElliance, The World Economic Forum and The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship launched Eyeglasses for Global Development: Bridging the Visual Divide, a jointly authored report of collective findings on the urgent need for national governments, the private sector and development partners to substantially increase investment in providing eyeglasses to improve educational outcomes, increase productivity and stimulate the global economy.

READ THE FULL REPORT HERE

A pair of eyeglasses could correct the vision of ±2.5 billion individuals living with poor vision. Of these, ±624 million need corrective lenses so strong that they are classified as visually impaired or blind without glasses. The need is great, but the problem is solvable.

This first-of-its-kind report consolidated the evidence of impact and elevate this issue area beyond the health sector with influential signatories from the private sector and leaders from governments in both the Global South and North. This groundbreaking report was also the catalyst for the unprecedented coverage of the issue area by The New York Times.

The report makes several recommendations backed by co-authors, signatories and an advisory panel and commits to building cross-sector support to broaden access to eyeglasses.

This report presented a rare opportunity to help address a massive global health problem by harnessing market forces to deliver a solution that can potentially generate significant gains in socioeconomic development. In addition, it made a compelling case that providing glasses for school-age children is a high impact investment and should be appropriately prioritized by both government leaders and development agencies.

Financial support from USAID and Grand Challenges Canada contributed to the development of this report and its publication.

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Source: https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_2016_EYElliance.pdf. Eyeglasses for Global Development: Bridging the Visual Divide. EYElliance, The World Economic Forum and The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. Published June 2016.