Tag: Eye Health Study

How the Young Will See Their Future – and the cost to all of us if they don’t

Posted on by Kate Moynihan
Photo of David Mukisa by Joe Raffanti.
Photo by Joe Raffanti: From the age of two, David Mukisa from Busia, Uganda, lived with poor eyesight, affecting every aspect of his young life. When he was seven, his mother joined a group traveling to Seva-supported Benedictine Eye Hospital. There, he was diagnosed with cataracts, and received bilateral cataract surgeries for free. “Fortunately he could be treated, even though I didn’t have money,” said David’s mom Alexia. ”A great weight has been lifted from my heart.”

Last month, the Seva Foundation and The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness released a groundbreaking report revealing a striking truth:

Children with vision loss learn at half the rate of those with good or corrected vision. Put another way – every year, 6.3 million school years are lost due to uncorrected vision, amounting to $173 billion in future earnings each year. Imagine the impact if those kids could simply see the board. What innovations would emerge? What challenges could these young minds overcome?

Continue reading →

Seva Foundation Releases Landmark Child Eye Report for World Sight Day

Posted on by Dr. Brad Wong, Chief Economist, Seva Foundation
Photo of Nepali students by Praful Lal Shresta.

Across low-and-middle-income countries, less than half of 10-year-old children can read. This alarming phenomenon has been labelled by education experts around the world as the global ‘learning crisis’: A bitter-sweet situation in which we have achieved near universal primary education, including gender parity, but in which children are not achieving sufficient mastery of basic literacy and numeracy.

Policymakers will need to use a variety of tools to address the learning deficit. One promising but under-considered intervention is hiding in plain sight: eyeglasses.

Continue reading →

What Kind of Return Does a Dollar Get?

Posted on by Seva Foundation

Only social equity, stronger economies, and rediscovered dignity. 

Photo by Joe Raffanti.
Photo by Joe Raffanti.

Eyesight influences most aspects of daily life, from the playground to the job-site, infancy to old age. It’s alarming, then, that one-quarter of the global population – 2.2 billion people – are living with vision impairment, and only half of those get the care they need. More women are affected than men, and the numbers increase sharply with age. Without significant investment in preventative actions, these numbers are projected to increase to 1.8 billion by 2050, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. 

Continue reading →

I’ll Take Seva Trivia for 1,000, Ken.

Posted on by Seva Foundation
Photo of Savitri Joshi by Joe Raffanti.

Get your buzzer finger ready as we play a game of Seva trivia. With 45-plus years, 20 countries, and 57 million people served, we’ve got some history! Test your arcane knowledge in our quiz on the programs, solutions, and people that help make the joy of transforming lives by restoring sight possible. 

Ready? Let’s get to it.

Continue reading →

525,600 minutes. 525,000 moments so clear.

Posted on by Kate Moynihan
Photo by Apurva Shroff: Before receiving a pair of eyeglasses, 10-year-old Arnav struggled with his schoolwork. With clear sight, he now performs at the top of his class and wants to be a doctor in the future.

Happy New Year!

The subject line references “Rent,” a Broadway musical that asks how you measure a life in a year. What can a talented and committed team of public health non-profit professionals accomplish in 365 days? Frankly – a lot. Over the past year, we’ve taken inventory of our collective efforts with Seva and partners, and I want to share a few highlights with you: 

Continue reading →