Providing glasses to employees in developing nations increases earnings

The date is April 5, 2024 and this is the report

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The report is compiled by Bob Yirka from Phys.org

An investigation by a global consortium of healthcare professionals, vision experts and sociologists reveals that providing reading glasses to presbyopia patients in underprivileged nations has a positive impact on their incomes. Presbyopia is a leading cause of eyesight problems, generally associated with old age. Their study, available in the open-access PLOS ONE journal, details their distribution of several hundred pairs of reading glasses among dwellers in the villages of Bangladesh.

Presbyopia is a problem that plagues almost everyone nearing the age of 50. This is when people notice difficulties with reading smaller text in newspapers or on pharmaceutical packaging. The solution is usually reading glasses.

Typically non-prescription and similar to magnifying glasses, these reading aids come in various strengths and are therefore inexpensive due to their non-prescription nature. They’re commonly found on drugstore racks. However, their accessibility is limited for aged inhabitants in developing countries.

Previous studies suggest that the onset of presbyopia often leads to a decrease in income or a total loss, as many professions demand clear eyesight. Those with this condition find activities like threading a needle, sifting through rice before cooking or picking tea challenging. This prompted the researchers to examine the effects of free reading glass distribution in these communities.

In their investigation set in 56 villages in Bangladesh, they discovered over 800 presbyopia-stricken adults. Half of them were immediately given reading glasses while the others received theirs eight months after. Upon revisiting them a few months later, they learned that the entire group's income had surged by nearly 38%—with an increase from an average of $35 to $47 per month.

They noticed that a significant number of previously unemployed individuals were able to reintegrate back into the workforce and contribute to their household's earnings. According to the researchers, the reading glasses cost between U.S. $3 to $4 on average, furthering their argument that this is an affordable method to enhance the living conditions for a large populace.

Journal information: PLoS ONE

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