UNITED KINGDOM—The Vision for a Nation Foundation—a charity based here that aims to improve the lives of people with poor vision by transforming access to eyecare services—announced that it has supported Rwanda to become the first developing country in the world to provide all its citizens with local access to affordable eyecare, as screenings reach two million this month.

“It is a testament to the extraordinary engagement by all levels of government, and the dedication of Rwanda’s health care workforce that we have achieved this milestone,” stated the James Chen, founder of Vision for a Nation. “I am extremely proud of the work that Vision for a Nation has undertaken in support of Rwanda’s Ministry of Health. We are now planning to make Rwanda our African home, while taking our work and innovations to other countries to tackle the huge global challenge of poor vision.”

Vision for a Nation launched its national eye health program in 2012 and has since trained 2,700 Rwandan Ministry of Health nurses to provide eyecare services at the country’s 502 local health centers. It has supported Rwanda’s Ministry of Health since 2012 to provide the people of Rwanda (11.8m people) with access to local and affordable eyecare. The program will be completed by December 2017.

The charity has integrated its services within Rwanda’s national health system and pioneered various innovations, including a unique three-day training course for nurses and outreach to all 15,000 villages in Rwanda. To date, one million people have received eye medication, 204,000 have been referred for specialist treatment at local hospitals and 149,000 have received glasses, the organization stated.