In Africa, uncorrected refractive errors such as nearsightedness and farsightedness are a leading cause of preventable visual impairment. These conditions are often underdiagnosed due to a lack of infrastructure and qualified personnel, and can significantly affect quality of life, education, and employment, especially in rural areas.
Access to optical services like optometry consultations and corrective lenses is critical to addressing this problem, but remains insufficient in many regions.
OPC’s goals are to provide affordable access to vision correction services and corrective lenses, improve eye health education to raise awareness of the impact of refractive errors, and strengthen local capacity to diagnose and treat them.
How we help strengthen vision care services:
- We set up screening programs, particularly in schools, to identify children with refractive errors and provide them with corrective glasses.
- We develop local optical workshops to offer affordable, accessible eyeglasses.
- We offer training programs for optometrists and eye health professionals to build local capacity.
- We run public awareness campaigns to inform communities about the importance of correcting refractive errors.
All of these efforts are carried out in partnership with the Ministry of Health in each country to support national needs and priorities.
