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IAPB members continue to make an impact in elevating eye health in the South East Asia region. In this issue we present some of the highlight of our member organizations in India in the first quarter of 2025.
Mission for Vision
In the first quarter of 2025, Mission for Vision (MFV) school eye health programme, Mission Roshni, served its 1 millionth child in India. MFV also established 163 Vision Centres, ensuring affordable and accessible eye care in remote parts of India. With collaboration at its core, MFV launched several initiatives, including school eye health, Retinopathy of Prematurity, and vision care at workplaces, in partnership with leading eye hospitals and donor support. A key milestone was MFV’s membership to WHO’s SPECS 2030 network and the appointment of its CEO as Co-Chair of its Strategic and Technical Advisory Group, reinforcing MFV’s commitment to global eye health goals.
LAICO-Aravind Eye Care System, a WHO Collaborating Centre, recently conducted a two-day consultation on improving effective Cataract Surgical Coverage (eCSC) and effective Refractive Error Coverage (eREC). The consultation convened 29 eye care experts from India, Bangladesh, and Nepal to develop strategies to accelerate progress toward WHO’s 2030 targets of achieving a 30%- and 40%-point increase in eCSC and eREC respectively. Drawing insights from Aravind and population-based data, participants recognized that a significant increase in eCSC and eREC could be achieved by addressing the gaps in diagnosis, compliance, surgical quality, and follow-up care. Experts recommended strategic measures such as standardized clinical protocols, enhanced patient counselling, and improved post-surgical follow-up, for closing the gaps. To measure progress and enhance service quality, new performance metrics like effective Cataract Intervention Rate (eCIR) and effective Refractive Error Intervention Rate (eRIR) were proposed. The consultation report has been shared with participants and WHO to help guide operational improvements and policy changes aimed at achieving global targets.
Care Netram-GoodVision extends its eye care services to the Bonda tribe, India’s first forest settlers with a rich, unique heritage. Care Netram-GoodVision in its continued mission of Helping India See Better, their team is engaged at eye camps in the Malkangiri district. They are providing free eye screenings and distributing high-quality Good Vision spectacles made in India, ensuring that these communities receive the essential vision care they deserve.
The Bondas, one of India’s most isolated indigenous communities, inhabit the hilly, forested regions of Malkangiri district in Odisha known for their distinct language, traditional customs, and unique attire that reflects a legacy of resilience and tradition.
The National Trucker’s Eye Health Programme (RAAHI), launched by Sightsavers India, aims to improve road safety by addressing vision problems among truck drivers, a key factor in road accidents, which cause 1.3 million deaths globally each year, with India accounting for one in ten fatalities. In 2019, over 151,000 people died in road accidents in India, with nearly 415 daily deaths. RAAHI began as a single vision center and expanded over five years to reach over one million truck drivers along major highways like the Golden Quadrilateral, North-South, and East-West Highways. The program now operates across 49 locations, including 26 static and 2 mobile vision centers, and 21 outreach camps. Early evaluations revealed that 48% of screened truck drivers had refractive errors, which can impair vision and affect road safety. RAAHI addresses this critical need by providing eye care, helping improve truck drivers’ vision and contributing to safer roads.
Alipurduar Becomes Cataract Blindness Backlog Free
Alipurduar District in West Bengal has been declared Cataract Blindness Backlog Free, a milestone achieved through the collaboration between Sightsavers India and the Alipurduar District Health and Family Welfare Department. This success follows a four-year effort (2020–2024) to reduce blindness prevalence to under 0.3%, a goal that demanded dedication, innovation, and collaboration at every level. Over the course of the initiative, more than 15,000 cataract surgeries were facilitated, in collaboration with both Government and NGO hospitals. Key infrastructure upgrades included the renovation of the District Hospital’s Operation Theatre and improvements to the Falakata Super Speciality Hospital. Additionally, over 196,000 children in government schools received eye screenings and glasses, ensuring that vision issues did not affect their education or quality of life.
Rapid Assessment of Refractive Error (RARE) in Kasganj district, Uttar Pradesh
Sightsavers India, in collaboration with its partners, conducted a Rapid Assessment of Refractive Error (RARE) in Kasganj, Uttar Pradesh, surveying 3,167 participants through household visits and eye examinations. The study found that 1.9% of participants had visual impairment, with uncorrected refractive error (URE) responsible for 78% of cases. Spectacle use was low (3.56%), especially among women and younger people, and while 42.65% of individuals over 35 had presbyopia, only 14.66% had access to reading glasses. Barriers to eye care included long distances to facilities, social restrictions for women, and financial constraints, preventing many from accessing spectacles. The findings highlight the need for accessible, affordable eye care, particularly for URE and presbyopia, to improve eye health and reduce preventable blindness in underserved areas.
The Child Eye Health: A Call to Action – Global Virtual Symposium, held on 20-21 February 2025, successfully brought together leading global experts, policymakers, and stakeholders to address key challenges in paediatric vision care. With over 1,700 participants from more than 60 countries and 16 distinguished speakers from international organizations, academia, and the eye health industry, the symposium provided a truly global platform. Keynote sessions at the symposium covered a range of critical topics, including effective interventions in paediatric vision care, innovative screening tools to scale school-based health programs, and sustainable financial strategies to ensure continued access to eye care. The symposium concluded with a strong call for continued collaboration, research, and multi-sectoral engagement.
Image on top: A young boy wearing glasses post cataract surgery with his grandmother/Amaresh Kumar Pandey
