If we have vision, we can transform universal access to spectacles

How are we working to improve it?

Our programmes

The goal of our programmes is to increase equitable and sustainable access to inclusive and high-quality eye health and refractive error services, and spectacles. Since 2004, Sightsavers has supported 216 million eye examinations and dispensed 6.2 million pairs of spectacles across Africa, Asia and the Caribbean as part of our work in universal health care. We have also supported the training of various eye health professionals to strengthen the delivery of eye care in some of the poorest parts of the world.

At Sightsavers, our principles of partnership and leaving no one behind are at the heart of our eye health and refractive error programming. We also realise that until and unless gaps in evidence and data are addressed, we won’t be able to support the development of high-quality eye health and refractive error services.

So, by applying a system-strengthening approach, we make sure that we engage with all stakeholders to develop services that can be sustainable and then scaled up.

Our advocacy

Investing in eye health is the best investment we can make as individuals and as a society. To achieve this, we need a global commitment to ensure access to eye care for everyone. We need everyone on board to take this agenda forward and we need to link it with achieving universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals.

We need national governments and policymakers to prioritise eye care, to make sure that the right resources are allocated to develop and integrate eye health services and provision of spectacles into the health and education systems.

So, we work to raise awareness and advocate for improved access to eye health services. And that these services should be evidence-informed, gender-responsive, climate-resilient, rooted in local context and accessible for all.

SPECS 2030

Sightsavers is part of WHO’s SPECS 2030 initiative, which envisions a world where everyone with refractive error can access quality, affordable and people-centred refractive error services. Achieving the 40-percentage point increase in the effective coverage of refractive error services is an ambitious target, but one that can be achieved – if we have the vision to make it happen.

With 32 organisations, including Sightsavers, on board, we are using an ‘all-hands-on-deck’ approach that engages and mobilises all stakeholders at global, regional and national levels. It’s a fact that when we focus our attention on an issue collectively, there’s nothing we can’t do.

So this international movement is an exciting opportunity to build global momentum, catalyse change at the national level, keep our eyes on achieving the target of effective coverage of the refractive error services, and ensure universal access to people-centred refractive error services.