At the recent Global Community Health Worker Symposium in Bangkok, Thailand, EYElliance brought together leaders from Liberia, Uganda, and Côte d’Ivoire to spotlight how governments are integrating eye health into national community health systems, transforming primary care delivery and expanding access to vision screening and reading glasses.
Listen to a recording from the panel discussion here: https://youtu.be/Z3Y5Bth_s_A
Moderated by Maggie Savage Dawson, EYElliance’s Managing Director of Government Delivery, the discussion showcased how simple, cost-effective eye health interventions, like dispensing of reading glasses, are strengthening non-communicable disease (NCD) response and public health care.
“Eye health has proven to be a catalyst, not a burden, for integrating primary health care,” said Dawson. “It builds trust, drives demand for NCD services, and motivates community health workers.”
Dr. Kadjo Gamael Koizan, Coordinating Director of Côte d’Ivoire’s National Eye Health Program, shared how the upcoming pilot – co-designed with the Ministry of Health – will ensure that vision screening and dispensing of reading glasses becomes a routine part of community health services.
“The demand is already there,” he explained. “People are asking for vision care. Through community health workers, we can meet that demand and make services available close to home.”
From Uganda, Isaac Okiring, Senior Associate at Clinton Health Access Initiative, reflected on the rapid progress of the country’s pilot.
“In just eight weeks, community health workers screened over 34,000 people and dispensed more than 4,000 pairs of reading glasses. We’ve seen incredible acceptance - no one refuses a screening. Communities see the impact immediately.”
The conversation also drew lessons from Liberia where EYElliance supported the Ministry of Health to integrate reading glasses into community health workers' minimum package of services. Community health workers in Liberia have been delivering reading glasses since 2021 and where the service has now been integrated into the national essential package for non-communicable diseases. Liberia’s success demonstrates the power of aligning policy, financing, and system design to create sustainable access.
As Dawson concluded: “We’re witnessing a broader shift – governments are leading the way in designing people-centered community health systems. Eye health is now part of that story.”
With demand and momentum growing across Africa and global recognition through WHO’s SPECS 2030 initiative, the path ahead is clear: governments are proving that integrating eye health through community health systems is possible, scalable, and profoundly impactful.
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