On World Sight Day, an annual day of awareness to focus on vision impairment and eye health, the social enterprise VisionSpring has announced that it has screened the vision of half a million factory workers in a coalition to improve worker wellbeing and livelihoods in apparel and footwear supply chains.
The Clear Vision Workplace alliance brings together leading businesses including Levi Strauss, the
VisionSpring dispensed eyeglasses to 188,000 factory workers, 78% of whom received their first-ever pair.
The widescale screenings in
'Serving half a million workers demonstrates that this life-changing intervention scales,' said CEO of VisionSpring Ella Gudwin.
'There are many millions more workers in need of a pair of eyeglasses, an estimated 1.2 million garment workers in
The benefits of vision correction are felt particularly by workers over the age of 35, who are experiencing age-related vision deterioration. For working adults, clear vision improves their ability to carry out detailed tasks, helping to increase earnings, improve job security and support career progression. Meanwhile the factories they work in benefit from higher productivity, better quality of work and less waste.
According to the
Each of the US businesses involved in the program works with factories in their supply-chain to arrange and pay for screenings. The eyeglasses that are dispensed to participants in the program are funded by
VisionSpring's approach offered a solution that demonstrated scalability and a positive impact on worker productivity and well-being, helping us impact the lives of workers within the
Through our partnership with VisionSpring, we've seen that providing workers with optometry care can have a profound impact on not only their productivity and earning capacity, but also on their ability to take care of their families and participate in all the intricate aspects of life.'
Correctable blurry vision is a problem that, if businesses, non-profits and government all work together, can be solved. As members of the Clear Vision Workplace alliance, VF is proud to be playing our part.'
This impact has only been possible thanks to our partners-including VisionSpring, who has been our partner since the program launched in 2010. We're thrilled for VisionSpring on reaching this significant milestone of screening over half a million factory workers through its Clear Vision Workplace alliance and are excited to continue our work together.'
Alongside the Clear Vision Workplace alliance, we are dedicated to doing good in the communities in which we operate and look forward to creating change together.'
About VisionSpring
Founded in 2001, VisionSpring is the social enterprise accelerating the use of eyeglasses in emerging and frontier markets. Our mission is to increase lifelong earnings, learning, safety, and well-being through eyeglasses for people vulnerable to poverty. We believe in the wonder of clear vision for everyone and envision a world in which all who need glasses will have them to see well and do well by 2050. As of 2022, VisionSpring corrected the vision of more than 10 million people living on less than
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Tel: +1 646-650-5928
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