A world free from avoidable blindness requires bold ambition, meaningful partnerships, and global action. Seva Foundation is proud to support that goal, stepping forward with a commitment to reach 50 million people with essential eye care by 2030.
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On September 24, Seva stood before leaders at the United Nations General Assembly to make the case that systems-based eye care is one of the most powerful and lasting investments the world can make in human potential. I left the stage already thinking of all I hadn’t said, which may simply be the condition of anyone fortunate enough to speak for Seva. Ours is a story of abundance, rooted in science, driven by a steadfast love of humanity, and marked by a willingness to take thoughtful risks. I was grateful for the time we were given, and especially grateful that Nick Kristof was there to tell parts of that Seva Story far better than I ever could.
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For Janabai, the sixth floor had become a problem.
At 65, Janabai lived in Maharashtra, India, with her grandson, his wife, and their nine-month-old daughter. The apartment was home, but getting in and out of it had become increasingly difficult. Her vision was fading, and six flights of stairs are a long way down when you can’t make out where you’re going.
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Seva Foundation has been recognized with a 2026 Global Recognition Award for research showing that eye care can do more than improve sight; it can strengthen livelihoods and local economies. The research was also featured in Business Insider, bringing these findings to a broader audience.
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If you’re looking for high-tech medical wizardry, complete with backup generators, sterile cleanrooms, and software engineers on speed dial, a Seva Vision Center might surprise you.
There are no titanium robotic arms or walls of blinking servers. Instead, you’ll find a trained local eye care worker, practical equipment, and a place where people can get care without traveling for hours, or even days, to reach a hospital. And that’s the innovation.
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The first airplane Jharna Roy ever boarded was taking her to a workshop in Bengaluru. This was not, strictly speaking, the most important thing that happened there. But it was a good place to begin.
Starting in 2013, Jharna worked as a Community Health Promoter, educating parents, children and patients in her community. When that program ended, Jharna spent most of her working life at Pinaki Ray Eye Foundation in Malda, India, learning the hospital’s particular ways of doing things. She knew its routines, its systems, its rhythms. She knew how to run the outpatient department, manage electronic medical records, and assist in the operating theater. Then, when the hospital’s operating theater supervisor couldn’t attend a Seva workshop, Jharna was asked to go instead.
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In 1967, Tom Anderson was studying at UC Berkeley when he was exposed to Eastern religions and the consciousness-expanding zeitgeist of the 60s. As a result, he found a way to travel across Asia through India and Nepal. “Deep travel like this has the power to reveal the connected humanity of people everywhere,” he said.
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Back in the 1980s, Seva co-founder Mirabai Bush had an idea that was both simple and, in its way, radical: give a gift that could change someone’s life. For decades, Gifts of Sight has made it possible to give a gift that means so much more, honoring someone you love while helping bring the gift of sight and better vision to someone in need.
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For nearly 50 years, Seva Foundation has done one thing relentlessly well: make quality eye care reach people the market forgot. Not through charity alone, but through calculated, disruptive innovation that has driven down the cost of care across the global eye care industry.
The Innovation Challenge is the latest chapter. Clinicians, researchers, and entrepreneurs from around the world submitted bold ideas to fight avoidable blindness and vision loss. Five winning teams will share a $480,000 prize pool.
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To understand how families escape poverty, you have to look at the barriers that stand between them and opportunity.
That’s why eye care isn’t just healthcare, it’s one of the smartest economic investments we can make. In more than 20 years of evaluating global health interventions, I’ve seen few solutions deliver such immediate returns for families while improving health, education, and livelihoods.
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