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Eye health in children: policy brief

Health, including eye and visual health, is inextricably linked to educational achievement, quality of life, and economic productivity.

Educating children in health in the school setting is as fundamental as building knowledge, and is critical to their ability to learn and therefore fully benefit from education. Health education allows them to acquire the knowledge, attitudes and practices necessary for a healthy life.

Many global programmes and initiatives focus on children and health. It is critical that eye health is part of these global initiatives and that programmes are comprehensive and go beyond vision testing for refractive error, currently the primary focus of school eye health activities. School eye health therefore needs to be fully integrated into both wider school health and eye health programmes.

Want to read more about our work?

Sightsavers and eye health
Mariana Rudge.
Sightsavers blog

Moving from intention to action is key to inclusive education for all

Following the Global Disability Summit, Sightsavers and the Global Partnership for Education share how world leaders can achieve quality schooling for children with disabilities.

Sightsavers, May 2025
Veronica Stapleton.
Sightsavers blog

To achieve quality education for all, disability inclusion is critical

At the CIES conference, there were many examples of innovative uses of digital technology, but strategies for reaching children with disabilities were rarely discussed.

Veronica Stapleton, April 2025
Minahil, who wears spectacles, smiles broadly as she sits at her classroom desk.

Sightsavers at the CIES education conference 2025

We attended the conference in Chicago on 22-26 March to share Sightsavers’ expertise, engage with the education community and explore how we can help to transform inclusive education.

March 2025