Low Cost Eyeglasses[edit | edit source]
"Low Cost Eyeglasses is a social enterprise for the one billion people in the developing world who need eyeglasses yet currently do not have them. People who have correctable vision problems are often handicapped as a result as the lack of correction. Without glasses, simple tasks become more difficult or impossible, productivity slows, and accidents occur more frequently. Based purely on the lack of productivity and enjoyment, the lack of eyeglasses is one of the largest solvable problems in the developing world. In fact, it is significantly more common than often cited problems such as cataracts or glaucoma. Glasses could correct the majority of vision problems encountered in the developing world, reducing the impact of presbyopia, myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism."
Books[edit | edit source]
The Provision of Spectacles at Low Cost. Available through Village Earth
Affordable Foldable Intraocular Lens[edit | edit source]
Problem
Cataract, the loss of transparency of the natural crystalline lens of the eye, is a leading cause of blindness worldwide.The disability increases the risk of poverty (as cataract blind are unable to earn a living wage), and conditions of poverty increase the probability of cataract blindness as poorer patients are often unaware of treatment options or unable to pay for them.
The most effective treatment is the surgical replacement of the clouded crystalline lens with an artificial replacement known as an intraocular lens (IOL). All three [IOL manufacturer's] currently charge well over $100 per lens. While this price is well within the means of most American customers, it presents a substantial barrier to patients in the developing world, where the vast majority of the world's cataract blind reside.
Summary
Depending on the experience of the surgeon and the complexity of the case, cataract surgery can take as little as 15 minutes to conduct, and post operative visual acuity can be 20/20, even if the patient's vision was worse than 20/20 to begin with. The low cost of surgery and extremely high rate of success make cataract surgery among the most cost effective public health interventions. Project Impact is now developing its own hydrophobic acrylic foldable intraocular lens which will be manufactured and sold via Aurolab.
Developers
Project Impact
Aurolab
