In Focus: Improving vision for the bottom billion

Private and entrepreneurial sectors can play a key role in addressing the lack of access to spectacles for over a billion people, according to a new report commissioned by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB).

Glasses for All: Improving Supply to the Poorest by Frontier Economics reported that a billion people, 90% from low and middle-income countries (LMICs), were living with vision impairment, mainly from untreated refractive error and presbyopia.

With an abundant supply of existing research into ‘demand-side’ issues, including lack of diagnosis, affordability and lack of awareness, the study instead addressed ‘supply-side’ issues and whether firms and supply chains were functioning well enough to ensure an efficient, cost-effective supply of frames.