Over 550 million people in India live with uncorrected poor vision. This unfortunately has created — and if left unresolved, will continue to create — a negative impact on personal well-being and socioeconomic progress within the nation.
Through strategic partnerships with local health care organizations, eye care professionals, and government agencies, the OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation aims to provide accessible and affordable vision care services to underserved communities across India.
To create long-term impact, the Foundation’s efforts span across four critical pillars: creating permanent access; innovating for affordable solutions; funding subsidized and free services; and driving advocacy and awareness.
Creating permanent access
India is the home ground of the Foundation’s Eye Mitra program. Directly translating to “friend of the eye,” in English, the Eye Mitra program trains unemployed and underemployed youths to become primary vision care entrepreneurs. It supports them in setting up their own shops, thereby providing vision care facilities to their communities.
In addition to creating permanent access to vision care, the program also creates livelihoods, develops entrepreneurial business skills, and improves the participants’ self-confidence. The 9,500 Eye Mitras have the potential to serve approximately 240 million people in India.
To ensure we are reaching even the most rural communities, we set out to partner with the state governments of India, Jhpiego — a global health nonprofit funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development — and other donors to implement a yearlong vision care pilot project connecting Eye Mitra opticians to health and wellness centers in Odisha and Madhya Pradesh states.
In 2023, the pilot saw 125 Eye Mitra opticians mapped to 236 centers, creating more than 41,000 eyeglass wearers. With the support of Eye Mitras, the Foundation aims to screen more than 100,000 people across India while replicating the program in different states.
Innovating for affordable solutions
The OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation, with support from EssilorLuxottica, a global leader in the design, manufacture, and distribution of ophthalmic lenses, frames, and sunglasses continually invests in innovation to accelerate the affordability of permanent vision care services and products.
One such innovation is the development of ClickCheck, an award-winning, portable alternative to an autorefractor. It is easy to use and does not require electricity, allowing eye care professionals working in remote areas to accurately measure visual acuity.
The ClickCheck is priced at a fraction of the cost of an autorefractor, which retails at more than $20,000, without compromising the accuracy of vision screening services.
Supplementing affordable vision screenings are the 2.5 New Vision Generation reading and prescription glasses, which have been designed for base-of-pyramid consumers, offering affordable quality and comfort for a variety of face shapes and vision issues.
Funding subsidized and free services
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together,” is a saying we commonly hear. Putting this into practice, the Foundation recognizes the positive impact of collective action, and often collaborates with government bodies, like-minded partners, and eye health NGOs, among many others, to drive impact at scale.
In 2021, the state government of Goa introduced the goal of a “Poor Vision Free Goa,” or “Andhatva Mukta Goa”. To support its efforts, the Foundation served as the technical partner for this program, setting up vision screening camps in each of the 41 constituencies and providing vision exams to more than 27,000 people. Those with uncorrected poor vision were also provided with glasses.
These programs had a significant impact on the people in the state, boosting educational outcomes, workforce productivity, and overall community well-being. Subsequently, in January 2023, the government of Goa launched Vision for All, a state-level school eye health program. As part of this initiative, over 2,000 government teachers were trained to deliver basic visual acuity tests for children.
The children with vision issues were then referred for detailed eye examinations and offered a solution, mostly through a pair of spectacles. This model has proven to be effective in achieving both scale and sustainability while addressing vision issues among children at the local level. This program aims to improve the academic performance among students who previously struggled due to undiagnosed visual impairments.
The Foundation, in the capacity of technical adviser to the state government of Karnataka is also supporting the implementation of a universal eye health program called Asha Kirana. Under this program, approximately 7,500 Asha health workers are trained to deliver basic visual acuity tests through door-to-door visits. The first phase of Asha Kirana successfully delivered vision care services to 5.6 million people in Karnataka, with the goal to screen over 60 million people in the next two years.
Overall, the impact of these programs underscored the crucial link between vision care and well-being, showcasing the transformative power of addressing uncorrected poor vision.
Driving advocacy and awareness
To drive advocacy and awareness of the importance of good vision, the Foundation also leveraged the star power of celebrity ambassadors. Rohit Sharma, the captain of the Indian cricket team, joined forces with Oakley and the Foundation, inspiring school-aged children to take care of their eyes and get regular vision screenings.
Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan has also supported behavioral change campaigns among the people of Uttar Pradesh, encouraging them to seek vision care support when needed.
Aligning with Ayushman Bharat
Ayushman Bharat, officially known as Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, is a flagship health care initiative launched by the government of India in September 2018. As the largest government-funded health care program in the world, it aims to provide financial protection and improved health care access to economically vulnerable families in India, which amounts to nearly 30% of the population.
The Foundation actively contributes to Ayushman Bharat's overarching goal of providing accessible and affordable health care for all Indians. By making eye care an integral part of this national initiative, the Foundation is ensuring that the vision for a healthier India includes every citizen.
The OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation is not merely addressing a health concern; it's catalyzing a collective movement for a healthier and more visionary India, aligned to government and global goals related to public health and sustainable development.
For more information on the activities of the OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation, please visit the website and follow their social media pages: LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and X.
About the author
Mahesh K V
Mahesh K V is a member of the board of directors and head of OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation, India. He’s also an honorary CSR adviser of the government of Karnataka. As head of the OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation, India, Mahesh leads all the philanthropy initiatives and advocacy efforts of the EssilorLuxottica Group in the region. With 17 years of experience across various sectors and organizations, he has collaborated with many national and international development organizations in their social impact departments for implementation of programs in India.
