On September 16th, VisionSpring and its Board of Directors will host a conversation with Fareed Zakaria, TIME Magazine’s Editor-at-Large and host of CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS.

Following an informal breakfast, Time Warner CEO, Jeff Bewkes will offer opening remarks and provide framework to the program, “Business Solutions for the Base of the Pyramid.” Dr. Zakaria will discuss the lack of effective products and services to address social problems in the developing world and explore new solutions to meet the pressing needs of the poor. He and VisionSpring Founder & CEO, Dr. Jordan Kassalow, will examine the unique aspects of social business and its impact at the Base of the Pyramid.

In addition to his work with Newsweek International and CNN, Fareed Zakaria is a New York Times bestselling author. He was described by Esquire Magazine as “the most influential foreign policy adviser of his generation” and in 2007, Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines named him one of the 100 leading public intellectuals in the world.

This event is by invitation only.

To inquire about the event, please contact Kelly R. Ricculli at kricculli@visionspring.org

The first-of-its-kind study commissioned by AMD Alliance International estimates that the global economic cost of visual impairment is estimated at a staggering US$2,954 billion in 2010 for the 733 million people living with low vision and blindness worldwide in 2010. Even more importantly, these costs are set to rise dramatically through to 2020 unless effective prevention and treatment strategies are adopted worldwide. This global cost includes direct health care cost expenditure, lost productivity and informal caregiver time.

The findings of the report emphasize the need to elevate vision as a global health and economic development issue. According to their estimates, more than half of all sight-loss globally occurs due to uncorrected refractive error, which is treatable with basic pairs of reading and/or distance lenses.

Recommendations

The study advances five recommendations to reduce the global burden of visual impairment, which emphasize broadening availability of affordable eye ware to correct refractive error. Additional recommendations include availability of cataract screenings and surgery in developing regions, funding and treatment of river blindness, increased glaucoma screenings for at-risk populations including seniors and those with diabetes.

Each of these recommendations, however, rests on an existing vision care infrastructure of each region, highlighting the critical importance of the availability of first-line vision care. In end of the road communities where VisionSpring operates, accessing vision care can require a full day trip to a city clinic – costing individuals a full day’s wages and travel expenses. By bringing vision care to these communities, VisionSpring hopes to be part of the larger process of developing the infrastructure of vision care systems in the developing world.

Awareness

One comment we repeatedly hear from new customers is that they had no idea that correcting their blurry up-close vision (or the headaches, neck strains and slow productivity caused by it) could be so easy and inexpensive. Had they been aware of the benefits relative to the cost, they might have resolved their vision problems years prior. For years, our Vision Entrepreneurs have referred customers whose vision required further attention to an optometrist or eye hospital – opening the door for a customer to feel empowered to treat vision issues he was once resigned to living with. Further, seeking the solution to age-onset blurry vision can lead to the discovery of a greater vision concerns such as cataracts, that while unable to treat patients directly, our Vision Entrepreneurs can help to diagnose and assist patients in locating treatment. Raising awareness of the treatment options available to those suffering with vision problems is a critical component of addressing these global costs – an issue our Vision Entrepreneurs tackle every day.

About AMDAI

AMD (Age Related Macular Degeneration) Alliance International is the only international organization in the world dedicated exclusively to promoting awareness, treatment and research into macular degeneration, the leading cause of vision loss in the developed world. It is a membership organization comprised of the worlds’ leading vision, seniors and research organizations from 25 countries.

The AMD Alliance International study and executive summary are available here.

In this short video, a VisionSpring customer in Nicaragua tells the inspiring story of how his friend became a Vision Entrepreneur and helped save his livelihood.

Dionicio Torrez-Hernandez, father of seven, was forced to use a handheld magnifying glass to inspect his shrimp harvest due to his blurry up-close vision. Then Lisseth, a young woman he knew since childhood, sold him a pair of low cost reading glasses that immediately doubled his productivity. Thanks to VisionSpring’s innovative model for providing affordable eye care, Dionicio and Lisseth are both able to support their children and save for the future of their families.

We would like to extend a special thanks to Willy Foote, President and Founder of Root Capital, for the production and composition of original music for this video. Join us in watching the inspiring story of Dionicio and Lisseth!

VisionSpring: Dionicio & Lisseth’s Story from elizabeth kaplan on Vimeo.

Learn more about Dionicio and Lisseth and read other inspiring Stories from the Field.

Last week Scientific American reported on an American Journal of Epidemiology study that has discovered a surprising connection between untreated vision problems and dementia in the elderly. The study indicates that untreated vision problems can contribute to the onset of the disease.

An excerpt from the article:

“Visual problems can have serious consequences and are very common among the elderly, but many of them are not seeking treatment,’ said University of Michigan researcher Mary Rogers, the study’s lead author, in a prepared statement.

Poor vision often prevents people from participating in the types of activities thought to reduce Alzheimer’s risk, such as socializing, reading, and physical activity. Early treatment of vision disorders, the authors suggest, could delay the onset of dementia, and of Alzheimer’s disease in particular.”

VisionSpring’s mission is to spark opportunity in the developing world by providing affordable vision care where it is inaccessible, targeting middle aged workers in end-of-the-road communities whose livelihoods are hindered by the natural onset of blurry up-close vision. This new found link between untreated vision problems and dementia reveals another critical economic and social benefit to VisionSpring’s work

To read the full article, click here.

At VisionSpring we were happy to see The New York Times kick off 2010 with an article highlighting the enormous need for affordable eye care in the developing world. Check out the article – “Better Vision for the World, on a Budget” – here.

Sharing the same goal as the technology-oriented organizations profiled in Heingartner’s article, VisionSpring focuses on another area of innovation necessary to achieve affordable vision care: distribution. VisionSpring works to provide affordable reading glasses, a “technology that has been around for over 800 years yet cannot be found in much of the developing world. Fifty percent of all the eyeglass needs in the world are for ready-made eyeglasses – the kind that can be purchased at any drugstore in the United States. To improve vision and economic productivity for individuals around the world, VisionSpring is working to tackle this critical piece of the puzzle.

Research on the huge economic gains that would come from providing glasses to the developing world was recently published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization.

According to the paper, the estimated loss of global productivity due to vision impairment is over $269 billion. This number, however, does not incorporate the 400 million people in the developing world with presbyopia (the loss of close-up vision). Imagine how much greater the loss must be with this condition included! *

Citing the developing world’s lack of infrastructure for distribution and training as challenges to fixing the problem, the WHO report brings attention to the very issues VisionSpring strives to address. We are thrilled that eye care as an economic intervention is finally getting the attention it deserves.

Download the WHO’s research paper on glasses and global productivity here

* Visionspring, in partnership with the University of Michigan, currently has studies underway to quantify global economic loss attributable to presbyopia.