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Child eye health is key to wellbeing and accessing education

Sightsavers, September 2024

To mark World Sight Day, Sightsavers’ eye health policy advisor Fiona Lawless and eye health deputy technical director Sumrana Yasmin explain how school eye health programmes are essential for children to fulfil their potential and build confidence.

“There are changes in the students’ academic performance after they were provided with glasses,” a school principal in Liberia reports in a Sightsavers evaluation.

“There are children who never performed well before and were able to perform better in their lessons after receiving glasses. They are doing good in reading and writing, and their confidence has increased.”

Twelve-year-old Arthur is one student who experienced the struggle to learn with impaired vision. No matter how hard he squinted, he couldn’t clearly see the board at the front of the class. His poor vision also meant he missed out on playing football with his friends, and one day he chipped a tooth after a bad fall.

Arthur’s teacher Mr Thompson had received training through a Sightsavers-supported school health project. He referred Arthur for an eye screening, which found him to have an uncorrected refractive error. A pair of glasses were prescribed and dispensed, which has made a huge difference.

“When I didn’t have glasses, I did not see clearly,” Arthur says. “Things were not well with me. Every time I was taking a test, I was failing most of the questions. Before I could not see the board clearly, but now I can see the board! I want to be good in the future – I want to become an engineer!”

A woman wearing glasses holds one hand over her right eye during an eye test.

What is refractive error?

Refractive errors are eye disorders caused by irregularity in the shape of the eye. This makes it difficult for the eyes to focus images clearly, and vision can become blurred and impaired.

About the condition
Twelve-year-old Arthur smiles as he stands next to his teacher, Mr Thompson. They stand in front of a chalk board in a classroom.
Arthur (left) can now see the board after his teacher, Mr Thompson (right), referred him for an eye test. © Sightsavers/Ahmed Jallanzo

The impact of eye health on education

Child eye health and education are inextricably linked in driving sustainable development and unlocking the potential of every child, leaving no one behind.

Vision is a key theme in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and is a vital contributor to reducing poverty, improving productivity, increasing access to education and work, enhancing participation and improving gender equity and wider equality.

Current estimates suggest there are 23.5 million children with a moderate to severe vision impairment, including nearly 1.5 million children who are blind, with short-sightedness (myopia) projected to increase to more than half of the world’s population by 2050.

This year’s World Sight Day is focusing on child eye health.

We know that 80 per cent of what young children learn is processed through their sight. The Lancet reports that children with vision loss are up to five times less likely to be in formal education in low and middle income countries. Children with a vision impairment must be accessing education, either supported with assistive products such as glasses or, for those students whose vision cannot be improved, with the support they need to attend and engage.

All children, like Arthur, deserve to have the tools they need to gain an education and achieve their dreams.

in Bangladesh, two women stand with their arms round each other outside their home.

What are the SDGs?

These goals, also known as the SDGs, aim to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for everyone by 2030. At Sightsavers, we make sure all our work helps to achieve these goals.

About the SDGs
Female students line up for an eye test outside a classroom. A female teacher holds up an eye test chart while a student points to the left to indicate a direction on the chart.
Schoolchildren in Pakistan line up for a vision screening.© Sightsavers/Jamshyd Masud

Vision screenings alone aren’t enough to tackle the issue

School eye health programmes offer an effective, cost-effective model to deliver eye care to school-aged children, and are time and resource-efficient.

Research shows that vision screening in schools has a positive impact on children’s attendance, academic performance and learning outcomes. However, these vision screenings must be done in conjunction with broader systems strengthening to ensure students identified during school vision screenings can receive further treatment if needed.

Sightsavers’ school programmes in Pakistan and Liberia are based on the principle that collaboration between all relevant stakeholders, including government and communities, is more effective when it involves engagements at national and sub-national levels. The programmes train teachers and community health workers to screen for eye conditions, poor vision and refer for further investigation as needed. The vision screening interventions are closely linked with clinical and rehabilitation services including follow-up eye examinations, refractive correction, provision of glasses and other assistive products, and surgical and vision rehabilitation services as needed.

The programmes also focus on health promotion activities as equipping teachers and parents with the knowledge to support health and wellbeing is a key strategy for improving children’s overall health. For example, evidence from Sightsavers’ Liberia project suggests that enlisting parents via forums like parent-teacher associations is an effective way of engaging and seeking consent before screenings in schools, and it improves adherence to follow-up appointments and compliance with the use of glasses in children.

A school student has her eyes tested while wearing optical glasses: an eye health worker's hand is changing the lenses in the glasses.

Improving health and nutrition in schools

The Sightsavers-supported School Health Integrated Programming project, known as SHIP, screens schoolchildren for health problems and provides spectacles and treatment where needed.

About the project

The school health integrated programmes proved to be effective and successful in improving access to eye care services for school-age children in many countries. However, there is still a long way to go and we need a concerted effort to achieve scale by working together and sharing the learning.

Child eye health is a significant public health issue, particularly in low-income countries, and requires well-integrated, innovative strategies to address the growing need. The consequences of inaction range far beyond vision, affecting education, social participation and future economic productivity.

We believe that the health and wellbeing of children is a shared responsibility between the parents, health and education sector stakeholders including school leadership and the community where they live. Putting children’s health, including eye health and wellbeing, at the centre of the health and education agenda will lead to unlocking the potential of our future generation. And the time to do this is now.

Our impact

Since 2019, Sightsavers has supported children’s eye health by carrying out 6.6 million eye examinations, 8,000 cataract operations and prescribing 200,000 pairs of glasses.

Authors


Fiona Lawless is Sightsavers’ health policy advisor.

Sumrana Yasmin is Sightsavers’ deputy technical director for eye health. She is based in Pakistan.

 

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