Clear vision for everybody

Up to 2.5bn people in the world have no access to an eye doctor, optometrist or optician, so many hundreds of millions have no chance for a vision test or to get glasses for visual correction. Visual impairment negatively impacts work, education and quality of life.¹

ZEISS engages to bring vision care to remote and rural areas, to poor people and to the children. Join us for a journey to India, China, Australia and the US.

The consequences are severe for people as well as for economies, for work, for life and education. For instance: Bad vision is reason #1 for early school leave, it shortens working lifetime by up to 10 years and thus limits capability for earning one’s living. The WHO says, the world’s gross domestic product could be 270 bn US-dollars higher each year if only all with low vision would be treated, not speaking about the millions with less visual impairments (1). Despite the work of many initiatives and dedicated individuals, a sustainable solution for hundreds of millions needy is still missing.

And it is getting worse. “This number is growing by 50 million year by year”, says Professor Joshua Silver, founder of UK-based the Centre for Vision in the Developing World.

“So even if we get 50 million a pair of spectacles every year we have a standstill, not considered that glasses don’t last a lifetime and need to be renewed frequently.” But with step-by-step changes, continuous efforts and involvement of local partners we can see changes – surely still too small, but nevertheless encouraging that progress can be made. And will be made. The main difference between cataract surgery and correction of refractive errors is that the eye surgery can be conducted onetime, e.g. in mobile camps, while vision care needs continuous local service so people get their vision tested frequently and get glasses whenever they need them.

Join us for a journey to India,  Australia,  China  and The Americas.

ZEISS has chosen to pilot a new social business approach in rural India to find sustainable answers to the vision challenge. India because ZEISS has a strong organization in this rapidly developing economy and about 300 million people there would need visual correction but have no access to any vision or eye care. “Two things were clear to us when we at ZEISS started to think about solutions to this world problem”, said Daniel Sims, general manager of ZEISS India. “Firstly, we need to make it a business model.” A business model enabling people to earn their living with providing poor people with good-enough spectacles. “That would be the main driver for significant growth of the initiative, because some hundreds entrepreneurs in the end would be motivated to engage and make it a success”, said Sims. This solution can be sustainable, it is not depending on charity.” To bring better vision to some hundreds of millions is nothing a single company can do. So, secondly, we need an initiative which ignites kind of pyramid selling – the project feeding its own growth.” In addition to the business model a strong partnership with NGOs, government and other firms can give the initiative the crucial boost.

“We have conducted field studies and talked with hundreds of people in rural India”, says Nitin Sisodia, founder of Bangalore-based Sohum Innovation Lab, ZEISS’s project partner in India. “Lot of them say, they’d have to go to the next city, spend one or two days on travel, more than 15 dollars for tickets, plus costs for vision test and a pair of glasses. That’s far more than they can afford for a pair of spectacles, so they live with impaired vision.”

Marc Wawerla, COO of ZEISS Vision Care and Aloka project sponsor, adds, “our question was how to bring vision care to those people, how to make glasses available and affordable in rural, unserved areas – not as charity but as a sustainable social business which addresses the root cause: lack of vision care infrastructure and eye care professionals.”

In Australia, Dresden Optics is piloting a new business model together with ZEISS Vision Care to make quality eye care more accessible in remote and disadvantaged areas of Australia. ZEISS has supported them not just with loan equipment for this venture but also with eyeglass lenses. Aim is to deliver affordable prescription glasses to Australians on welfare in country areas – and eventually, to some of the poorest people in the world. The team uses a trailer as a fully functioning optometry practice and travels directly to the communities where eye tests and dispense of spectacles is most needed. “We at ZEISS are happy to support this initiative”, said Hilke Fitzsimmons, head of ZEISS Vision Care Australia. “Still a small pilot, but a first step and real help for some of people who haven’t seen an optometrist for years.” With advanced ZEISS eye testing technology like remote retina screening the service also covers test of eye health, so the patients get a full examination of their vision. “It was a great success and we are now looking to scale it up across this region and other areas in NSW, said Bruce Jeffreys of Dresden Optics.

The ZEISS Better Vision Children Aid Campaign has been bringing eye and vision care to left-behind children in China since 2014. Since entering China, ZEISS has achieved remarkable success through years of exploration and cultivation in the market. At the same time, as an enterprise with full sense of social responsibility, ZEISS is enthusiastic in public welfare and takes practical actions to return the Chinese consumers for their trust and supports in ZEISS brand. In August 2014, ZEISS initiated the 1st ZEISS Better Vision Children Aid Campaign. Within merely a month through cooperation with the Free Lunch Fund, ZEISS raised 108,560 sets of free meal for children in poverty-stricken areas in 2014 alone. With supports from more than ten industry partners, this activity is further implemented in other provinces across the country and influence even more people. Of course, ZEISS does more than funding free lunch. As a joint effort with the Free Lunch Fund the team visits schools in poverty-stricken areas, where ZEISS provides professional eye checks for school kids, teachers and seniors and donate free lenses to them. For instance during one campaign in collaboration with the Shanxi Optometry Center and the Free Lunch Fund ZEISS provided free optometry in combination with free lunches to 113 students of the Longquan School, a primary school in Jingyou Town, Loufan County, Taiyuan, Shanxi, helping to alleviate their hardships both in living and learning.

In the Americas, TOMS has partnered with ZEISS to create a special collection of eyewear that appeals to the adventurer in all of us. Inspired by a shared love of innovation, discovery and helping the world to see, the Discoverist Collection features sunglasses with premium ZEISS polarized lenses in stylish and durable acetate frames. This premium collection of eyewear provides a sharp vision experience for the wearer, with purchases, in turn, helping to restore sight to individuals in need by funding eye exams, prescription glasses, sight-saving surgery and medical treatment. Each sold pair of Discoverist with ZEISS lenses funds clear sight for one in need. Clear vision for everybody is a vision – and seems to be unachievable. But with activities and programs as described here ZEISS together with customers, partners and individuals can change the life of many hundreds of people. Step by step, but continuously and committed to find sustainable answers to one of the world’s most pressing health issues: lack of good sight.