VisionSpring and the Council of Churches Zambia (CCZ) have launched a new programme to screen the vision of people living in rural poverty in Zambia for the first time.

Development Diaries reports that the programme, Reading Glasses for Improved Livelihoods (RGIL), aims to screen 50,000 people in 2023 and 110,000 by 2023.

At least 42,600 people are expected to acquire a life-changing pair of eyeglasses, most for the first time in their life.

‘This year the programme will test the sight of 47,500 rural Zambians and 12,600 people are expected to acquire the reading glasses they need to see clearly – most for the first-time ever’, the nonprofit said in a statement to Development Diaries.

It highlighted that Zambia currently has one optometrist for every 2,000,000 people, adding that it is training Live Well and CCZ’s community health entrepreneurs to conduct basic sight tests; identify blurry near vision; sell subsidised, low-cost reading glasses; and refer people with other eye conditions for higher level care.

‘Based on initial programme data, the organisations expect that 75 percent of Zambians screened through the RGIL programme will need vision correction – 58 percent reading glasses and 20 percent higher level care including distance glasses, cataract, trachoma treatment, etc’, the statement read.

One billion people globally, most of whom are poor and reside in rural regions, lack access to the eyeglasses they require to see effectively, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Photo source: WHO/Sebastian Liste