Cheap eyeglasses can boost the global economy

May 14, 2010

Every year billions of dollars are lost in in the global economy because of vision impairment. The World Health Organization has introduced the idea of cheap glasses, which can actually help boost the global economy because workers would be able to function more efficiently with corrected vision, reports Canada.com.

They estimate that about 153 million people globally have impaired vision due to untreated eye conditions. doesn't make sense Cheap eyeglasses are a low-cost remedy to a global crisis affecting millions of people.

The news source reports that the researchers found that "even under the most conservative assumptions, the global provision of eyeglasses would result in considerable savings per case treated and in a net benefit to the global economy."

The WHO estimates that about 87 million of the people who are visually impaired live in poorer countries where access to eye care is very scarce. The majority of those people are women and the elderly. They also report that about 8 million of those living in poorer countries have gone blind because the lack of access to eye care.