VisionSpring: Eyeglasses to improve livelihoods, learning, and road safety outcomes

12 Aug

MLC VANGUARD | Created by VisionSpring

VisionSpring creates access to affordable eyewear, everywhere -- correcting the vision of low-income earners and learners to improve productivity, income, educational outcomes, and road safety.

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8,700,000 Lives Impacted

Eyeglasses are a powerful tool for social and economic development. And yet, 90% of the people who need and do not have access to this 700-year-old technology are in low and middle-income countries.

For many of these individuals, uncorrected blurry vision results in the loss of employment and educational opportunities and poses a barrier to participation in civic society and family life. Our 2018 randomized control trial conducted with tea pickers in Assam, India, found that with reading glasses productivity increased by 22% on average, and up to 32% among workers over the age of 50. This landmark study published in The Lancet Global Health represents the largest productivity increase ever recorded from a health intervention. For people earning less than $4 per day, this increased productivity translates into increased earnings of roughly $216 over the two-year lifespan of a pair of VisionSpring eyeglasses.

The 2021 Lancet Global Health Commission on Global Eye Health declares eye health to be essential for achieving the UN SDGs and that, “highly cost-effective vision restoring interventions offer enormous potential to improve the economic outlook of individuals and nations.”

The Innovation

Our mission is to create affordable access to eyewear, everywhere. Over 1 billion people would be able to earn, learn and be safe, if they could acquire a pair of simple eyeglasses to see clearly. Of these, 826 million are visually impaired without this 700-year-old technology, and 70% just need a pair of over-the-counter reading glasses. VisionSpring can source these for as little as $1 and deliver to those living on less than $5/day. To date, our efforts here have led to $1.8B in economic impact at the household level.

VisionSpring distinguishes itself by its social enterprise model. As such, social change motivates us first. We treat poor and low-income individuals as consumers rather than beneficiaries. We create access to eyeglasses for them by selling our eyewear for the equivalent of one to two days' wages. By doing so, we can serve four times as many people living in poverty per dollar input than the next alternative of donating recycled ones. What's more, we awaken new demand and seed a viable market. As a social enterprise, we break out of traditional health and optical store channels and bring eyeglasses to the places where low-income individuals work and study.

About VisionSpring

Through Institutional Partnerships, VisionSpring sells bulk quantities of eyeglasses coupled with training and marketing to a network of hospitals, rural pharmacies, eye care centers, NGOs, and government partners around the world.

Through our Vision Access Programs, VisionSpring conducts community-based vision screenings and advances our impact along three themes. See to Earn increases productivity and sustains income-earning potential by ensuring clear vision for working-age adults. See to Learn enhances learning outcomes by conducting school-based vision screenings and providing eyeglasses for students and teachers. See to be Safe improves road safety by providing vision screenings in transportation hubs and ports to truckers, bus drivers, mechanics, and other transport workers.