Establishing Vision Entrepreneurs Through Community Based Eye Care System in Rural Communities of Hanoi, Vietnam

Presbyopia, or farsightedness, is a significant cause of avoidable visual impairment, blindness and disability, particularly among older adults. Vision impairment due to uncorrected presbyopia affects over one billion people worldwide, 98% of whom live in developing countries. Poor access to eyeglasses and lack of health care professionals to perform eye examinations exacerbate to this issue.   The project aims at addressing access and education barriers to correctly treat uncorrected presbyopia by establishing a community-based eye care system for older and poor adults in rural communities in Vietnam by training “vision entrepreneurs”: women's union members, private optic shops and the local health system. These will deliver screening, eyeglasses provision and a referring mechanism to the older adults in local rural communities. It is expected that at least 10,000 elderly participants will be reached, screened and approximately 4,500 quality eye glasses will be provided in a cost-sharing mechanism.  "