Innovation through integration
RestoringVision bridges the gap in vision care for Peruvians by incorporating vision services in a national government pension programme
By Gerardo Medina Duarte, Programme Manager, Latin America and the Caribbean (RestoringVision) Dr. Edgar Medina Figueroa, Executive Director (Management Sciences for Health Peru) and Mark Lorey, Vice President, Global Programmes and Impact (RestoringVision)
With the support of the Vision Catalyst Fund (VCF), RestoringVision is collaborating closely with Management Sciences for Health Peru (MSH Peru) and the Peruvian government to address the pressing issue of presbyopia among vulnerable communities in Peru. Together, we are providing access to essential vision care services and reading glasses for hundreds of thousands of Peruvians served by Pension 65, the national government’s social safety net pensions agency.
The global community is facing a vision crisis. More than a billion people around the world are unable to see clearly or at all for reasons that can be readily addressed. Over 80% of these people have presbyopia: age-related deterioration of near vision, which can be corrected with a simple pair of ready-made reading glasses. Thus more than 820 million people need only a pair of reading glasses in order to see clearly again. This restoration of clear sight has immediate and sustained impact in people’s lives, including their health, education, safety, livelihoods, and quality of life.
In Latin America, an estimated 49 million people are living with uncorrected presbyopia. In Peru, the number of people with uncorrected presbyopia is estimated to be over 3 million. Access to formal eye health services is very limited, especially for the poorest Peruvians.
Bringing vision to a pension programme
Pension 65 is the agency within Peru’s Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion that is mandated to serve the poorest Peruvians ages 65 and older living in extreme poverty. Pension 65 serves as a crucial lifeline for approximately 800,000 vulnerable Peruvians. Their monthly visits to the Pension 65 offices provide an ideal opportunity for vision screening and dispensing of reading glasses. With support from RestoringVision, MSH Peru has trained Pension 65 staff to provide presbyopia screening and provide reading glasses to all the pensioners who need them. The glasses are provided by the Vision Catalyst Fund with support from OneSight EssilorLuxottica.
Since this collaboration began in 2021, the partners have together provided new, high quality reading glasses to more than 195,000 Peruvians served by Pension 65. The partners aim to reach at least 500,000 clients of Pension 65 by 2025. This screening also provides a key gateway into wider eye health care systems, by helping those who are screened learn they may have other eye issues and referring them to eye health providers where available in their context.
Rosa, a Pension65 client meeting with the team.
A grant to learn and grow
In December 2023, the Vision Catalyst Fund awarded RestoringVision one of VCF’s first ever Eye Health Accelerator Grants. Recognising the innovative integration led by this partnership, its remarkable scale to date, and its potential for expansion and replication, this grant has provided support for three priorities:
Define promising approaches to sustainability and recommend a sustainability strategy to ensure the impact of this pioneering programme can be sustained for many years to come.
Generate compelling evidence of impact of reading glasses dispensed through this programme. This evidence will be used with policymakers in Peru in advocacy for changes in systems, policies, and practices that will enable scaling and sustainability of reading glasses provision. The evidence will also be used as a basis for advocating for replication of this approach in other country contexts, potentially enabling RestoringVision to reach many millions more people living in extreme poverty.
Recommend other country contexts in Latin America, the Caribbean, and other parts of the Majority World with the strongest potential for replication based on several factors, including the presence of functional social safety net programs and government openness to innovation.
Looking to the future
RestoringVision is collaborating closely with VCF, MSH Peru and the government of Peru to achieve these priorities while continuing to serve the most vulnerable people ages 65 and over in Peru. RestoringVision deeply appreciates the thought partnership and strategic engagement of the Vision Catalyst Fund, along with the generous support of the VCF Eye Health Accelerator Grant to take this cutting-edge approach to new levels of impact in Peru and beyond.
RestoringVision is committed to the vision of a world where everyone who needs glasses has access to them. Through collaborative efforts and innovative solutions, we can illuminate the path to clear vision for vulnerable communities around the globe.