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Vision Aid Overseas is a charity dedicated to people in the developing world whose lives are blighted by poor eyesight.
300 million people in the developing world need spectacles to live an ordinary life, but do not have them due to poverty and the lack of optical services. The World Health Organization has acknowledged this as the leading cause of avoidable visual impairment. Many people who are functionally blind simply need spectacles to see. Without them children fail at school, mother and fathers have to stop working and elderly people are forced to live without dignity. The consequences for individuals and their communities can be devastating.
Vision Aid Overseas works by sending abroad teams of optometrists and dispensing opticians to perform a number of key activities in our target countries:
Optical Training
All developing countries suffer from a severe shortage of optical professionals. VAO provides training for doctors and other health workers in its target countries, equipping them with the skills required to examine eyes and dispense spectacles.
Optical Workshop Development
VAO establishes optical workshops that employ local staff to glaze and manufacture spectacles to the precise requirements of each patient.
Direct Service Delivery
Vision Aid Overseas sends teams of optical professionals to some of the world’s poorest countries. The volunteers set up clinics, screen large numbers of patients and provide spectacles where necessary.
Vision Aid Overseas currently works in the following countries:
- Burkina Faso
- Ghana
- Ethiopia
- India
- Malawi
- Sierra Leone
- Uganda
- Zambia
