KIGALI, Rwanda, April 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) and the OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation have announced a multi–year partnership to advance access to eyeglasses and build sustainable vision care systems across Africa. With a shared focus on health equity, the collaboration aims to address one of the continent’s most widespread yet neglected public health challenges: uncorrected poor vision.
In sub–Saharan Africa, an estimated 12.6 percent of the population lives with some form of refractive error, with 3.4 percent experiencing visual impairment due to uncorrected refractive error.¹ This silent barrier limits children’s ability to learn, adults’ ability to work, and older persons’ ability to live independently, often pushing entire families deeper into cycles of poverty. Yet, with access to a simple pair of eyeglasses, over 80 percent of vision impairments can be corrected or prevented.
Recognizing the wide–reaching impact of good vision, this partnership aims to expand equitable access to eye care across Africa through sustainable, system–level solutions. It will focus on:
- Building local capacity to deliver refractive error services at scale.
- Strengthening public health systems by establishing optical labs and training local teams.
- Developing shared tools to track progress toward full coverage of refractive error care.
Through this partnership, the Foundation will support CHAI in significantly expanding access to affordable eyeglasses, accelerating the delivery of vision services across priority geographies. It will also provide technical expertise, equipment, and awareness resources to reach underserved communities.
In parallel, both organizations will work with government stakeholders to co–create implementation pathways and explore long–term integration into national health strategies.
“Poor vision holds people back from learning, working and living with dignity, especially children and older adults. CHAI’s ambition is to get glasses to over 50 million people in five years,” said Frederic Seghers, Senior Director for Assistive Technologies at CHAI. “Partnering with the OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation helps us move faster and reach farther toward that goal, thanks to their technical expertise and global presence.”
“Vision care has the power to unlock human potential, but too often, it remains out of reach for those who need it most,” said Mustapha Njie, Head of Africa, OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation. “This collaboration with CHAI allows us to build locally rooted, system–strengthening solutions that last. Their relationships with governments and commitment to inclusive development ensure that every clinic, lab, and pair of glasses contributes to a larger, sustainable shift in how vision care is delivered.”
Implementation begins in April 2025 across multiple countries in Africa, with an initial three–year period and the potential for expansion based on national priorities and programmatic success.
Media Contact:
Tamana Mulchand
About the OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation:
The OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation is a registered charitable organization dedicated to eliminating uncorrected poor vision within a generation. As part of EssilorLuxottica’s commitment to universal vision care, the Foundation works to expand access for millions in underserved communities worldwide. It is also the global collaborating partner of the World Health Organization’s SPECS 2030 initiative, which focuses on refractive error, myopia prevention, and improving access to vision care in low–resource settings.
Find out more at: onesight.essilorluxottica.com
About the Clinton Health Access Initiative:
The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to saving lives and improving health outcomes in low– and middle–income countries by enabling the government and private sector to strengthen and sustain quality health systems. For more information, please visit: www.clintonhealthaccess.org
¹ Source: PLOS ONE, “Refractive Error and Visual Impairment in Sub–Saharan Africa: A Review” (2022), https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0271313
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