Latest News EYElliance and World Economic Forum Report Explores Economic Growth Via Eyeglasses for the Underserved By Staff Wednesday, June 29, 2016 12:24 AM TIANJIN, People’s Republic of China—The provision of eyeglasses to the more than 2.5 billion of the world’s inhabitants that currently suffer from poor vision but lack access to the solution could generate huge returns in terms of educational attainment and economic growth. This is the finding of a new report, Eyeglasses for Global Development: Bridging the Visual Divide, published yesterday and issued by the World Economic Forum and EYElliance.The report is the first initiative of EYElliance, a new multi-stakeholder venture co-founded by Dr. Jordan Kassalow, a Schwab Foundation social entrepreneur. EYElliance was convened to bring together governments, philanthropists, businesses and the eyecare community with a specific mandate to engage and collaborate to close the gap in access to eyeglasses.The report was issued against the backdrop of The World Economic Forum’s 10th Annual Meeting of the New Champions held here June 26 to 28. Under the theme, The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Its Transformational Impact, more than1,700 business leaders, policy-makers and experts from over 90 countries participated and explored more than 200 sessions over the three days of the meeting. According to the new report, in 2015, NGOs and inclusive businesses collectively distributed nearly eight million pairs of glasses in less-developed countries. Approximately $37 million, or 2 cents per person affected was spent by the international donor community to address the need for glasses. Without rapid remedial action, the negative economic, educational and societal impact of poor vision could escalate, with 50 percent of the world’s population—65 percent of East Asia’s—expected to suffer from myopia by 2050.Along with new data highlighting the scale of the world’s visual divide, and examples of validated, scalable models, the report also publishes a set of recommendations for governments and businesses that are interested in contributing to addressing this global challenge. "We are excited to partner with Jordan Kassalow and the EYElliance to publish this important call to action," said Hilde Schwab, co-founder and chairwoman of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. "This effort is an outstanding example of how leading social entrepreneurs develop evidence about what works and use that evidence to catalyze multi-stakeholder action for large scale systemic change."Madeleine Albright, lead signatory of the report and U.S. Secretary of State (1997-2001) stated, “The need is great, but the problem is solvable. This report shows how we can harness market forces to address a major global health problem and foster significant gains in socio-economic development.” One of many prominent signatories of the report is The Honorable Elaine Chao, the 24th U.S. Secretary of Labor (2001-2009), the first Chinese American ever appointed to the president's cabinet in American history who noted, "Proper vision enable workers worldwide to earn a living and take care of their families. The public, private and volunteer sectors need to work together to help individuals access affordable vision correction."EYElliance is a coalition of multisector public, private and non-governmental organization (NGO) partners and stakeholders that collaborate to address the world’s unmet need for eyeglasses. EYElliance does not deliver eyeglasses directly, but instead promotes increased coordination among NGOs and facilitates collaboration across sectors to accelerate market-led development and support school eye health initiatives. To advance its recommendations, EYElliance will collaborate with for example, the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness and Our Children’s Vision Campaign, and work with a broad coalition of public- and private-sector partners.