World Sight Day: Governments urged to fund basic assistive technology

Governments have been urged to increase funding for basic eye care and bring affordable vision services closer to communities as the world marks World Sight Day on October 8, 2026.

Dot Glasses, a social enterprise working to expand access to affordable spectacles, says poor eyesight remains a major barrier to education, work and independent living, especially in low-income communities.

The organisation said assistive technology, including spectacles, should no longer be treated as a specialised health service because its impact cuts across education, transport, livelihoods and productivity.

A trader who cannot read a mobile money message, a rider who struggles to see an approaching vehicle at dusk or a child who cannot follow lessons on a classroom board can all lose opportunities because of poor vision, it said.

The call comes weeks after the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 80/305 on Access to Assistive Technology in September 2026.

The resolution, sponsored by 41 member states and adopted without a vote, places affordable and quality assistive technology within universal health coverage and sustainable development.

The WHO-UNICEF Global Report on Assistive Technology estimates that more than 2.5 billion people need at least one assistive product, but nearly one billion people do not have access.

In some low-income countries, access to such products can be as low as three per cent of the need.

Dot Glasses said spectacles are among the simplest assistive products but remain inaccessible to millions because of cost, distance and shortages of trained eye-care professionals.

The organisation cited global estimates showing that 31.3 per cent of the world’s population may need at least one assistive product when spectacles are included, compared with 11.3 per cent when they are excluded.

Sub-Saharan Africa also faces a severe shortage of eye-care professionals.

According to workforce data cited by the organisation, the region has a median of about two optometrists per million people, compared with 156 per million in high-income countries.

Some countries have fewer than one optometrist per million people outside their capital cities.

Dot Glasses said the shortage means governments cannot rely only on specialist clinics if they want to expand access to basic refractive services.

It called for systems that allow trained health workers closer to communities to provide basic vision testing and spectacles while referring complicated cases to specialists.

The World Health Organisation has previously recognised the role of refractionists and other trained personnel in delivering refractive services, especially in underserved areas.

Dot Glasses said Uganda had started taking steps in that direction through its cooperation with the Ministry of Health.

“Global commitments matter, but access becomes real only when a person can get the right product, at a price they can afford, close to where they live,” Dot Glasses co-chief executives Bradley Heslop and Adam Boxer said.

They said the organisation’s memorandum of understanding with Uganda’s Ministry of Health was helping basic eye care move closer to communities and places where people already seek care.

“This World Sight Day, we are calling on governments, health systems, funders, employers and communities to each play their part in removing the barriers that still keep people from basic eye care,” they said.

This year’s World Sight Day campaign is running under the message “Love Your Eyes”, with organisers also pushing governments to unlock funding and reduce barriers to accessible eye care.

Dot Glasses said global resolutions would only make a difference if governments translate them into budgets, trained workforces, functioning supply chains and services that reach people before poor eyesight disrupts education, employment and everyday life.

The organisation works with governments, health systems and non-governmental organisations to train primary health workers to test vision and dispense affordable spectacles closer to communities.