Eyelliance’s recent report in conjunction with the World Economic Forum Eyeglasses for Global Development: Bridging the Visual Divide estimates there are up to 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. Also 50% of the global population (and 65% of East Asia’s) are expected to be short-sighted by 2050.

80% of the 2.5 billion people do not have access to affordable, properly prescribed eyeglasses and live in less developed countries. Unequal access to the solution is not the result of costly medical treatment, the cost of sourcing new frames and lenses for glasses is only $0.60 – 2.50 per pair. It is a huge market.

The report urges national governments, the private sector and development partners to substantially increase investment in programmes that provide eye examinations, vision screening, eye disease detection and actual eyeglasses to improve educational outcomes and confidence for children in need. It gives adults the opportunity to be more productive, avoid accidents in the workplace, connect digitally with the world and increase their earnings. This has obvious socio-economic benefits.

The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) launched a global initiative called Vision 2020 in 1999 with the aim of eliminating avoidable blindness by the year 2020. It provides guidance as well as technical and resource support to countries that formally adopt its agenda.

Smart Focus is a social enterprise healthcare company that originated out of Stanford University. Its origins lie in the Rural Education Action Program (REAP), an organisation aiming to inform sound education, health and nutrition policy in China. Since 2011, its research has shown that “quality vision care is the most cost-effective intervention for improving child welfare, and leads to large and sustainable increases in learning and school performance, along with positive spillovers to children who don’t have poor vision.”

Smart Focus is a network of for-profit vision centres based in county hospitals. The centres partner with schools to deliver high quality vision care. Teachers are trained by optometrists on how to conduct initial vision screenings and refer students to a vision centre if the student needs further medical help. To date, Smart Focus has provided access to free or affordable glasses to over 30,000 primary school children and screened over 120,000.

To find out more about business investment opportunities in companies like Smart Focus, contact Cornfield & Partners at info@cornfieldpartners.com, or you can call us on +44 (0) 20 7692 0873.

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