If you’re 50 or older and reading this article, you’re probably wearing a pair of inexpensive reading glasses to correct your presbyopia, or farsightedness, the age-related decline in vision that makes it harder to see fine print and small. things.
Eventually, everyone gets the condition.
But for nearly a billion people in the developing world, reading glasses are a luxury that many cannot afford. According to the World Health Organization, lack of access to corrective eyewear prevents young students from learning, increases the likelihood of traffic accidents and forces millions of middle-aged factory workers and farmers who leave the work force too early.
Uncorrected presbyopia, not surprisingly, makes it difficult for breadwinners to support their families. That is the conclusion of a new study found that garment workers, artisans and tailors in Bangladesh who were given free reading glasses experienced a 33 percent increase in income compared to those who were not given glasses.
The study, published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One, included more than 800 elderly people in rural Bangladesh, many of whom work in jobs that require close attention to detail. Half of the participants — a mix of tea pickers, weavers and seamstresses between 35 and 65 — were randomly selected to receive a free pair of reading glasses. The others were not given glasses.
The researchers followed up eight months later and found that the group with glasses experienced a significant bump in income, receiving an average monthly income of $47.10, compared to $35.30 for participants without glasses.
The study subjects were equally divided between men and women, and slightly more than a third were literate.
Dr. Nathan Congdon, the study’s lead author and an ophthalmologist at Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland, said the results add to a growing body of evidence measuring the economic impact of uncorrected vision. in parts of the world where it costs around $1.50. buy a pair of so-called readers will not reach many.
“We would all be happy with a 33 percent increase in income,” said Dr. Congdon, which specializes in low-cost eye care delivery models. “But what makes the results even more exciting is the potential to convince governments that vision care interventions are as cheap, cost-effective and life-changing as anything we can offer in healthcare. “
Dr. David S. Friedman, a professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School who was not involved in the study, said he was surprised by the results and hopes that future studies will confirm the findings. “These economic impacts are big, real and can have a big impact on people’s lives,” he said.
Eye care has long been the neglected child of public health in the developing world; infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria and AIDS tend to get stronger government and philanthropic support. But visual impairment is a serious global issue, with costs expected to be even higher more than $400 billion in lost productivityAccording to the WHO
Experts say spending on eye care can have a huge impact on communities, both in terms of increased economic output and improved quality of life. Compared to other, more difficult health problems, addressing presbyopia is relatively inexpensive. Glasses can often be made for less than $2 a pair, and fittings are usually made by community workers who can be trained in as little as a day.
Misha Mahjabeen, the Bangladesh country director for the VisionSpring, a nonprofit organization that participated in the study, said that lack of resources is just one obstacle to increasing the distribution of reading glasses. In many Bangladeshi villages, he said, community workers must contend with the social stigma associated with wearing glasses, especially for women.
In general, the health needs of women in Bangladesh are more than men. “In our male-dominated society, when a man has a problem, he needs immediate attention, but women, they can wait,” she said.
But the effects of vision loss can be particularly pronounced for women, who are often responsible for earning extra income for their families in addition to child care and housework, Ms. Mahjabeen. “When sewing and cleaning takes longer, or you can’t pick all the stones from the rice, in some households it results in domestic violence,” he said.
VisionSpring distributes more than two million pairs of glasses a year across South Asia and Africa, up from 300,000 in 2018.
The PLOS One study builds on previous research involving tea pickers in India that found a significant increase in productivity among study participants given reading glasses. The paper, a randomized study published in The Lancet Global Health in 2018, recorded a 22-percent increase in productivity among workers provided with glasses. For those over 50, productivity increased by nearly 32 percent.
Agad Ali, 57, a Bangladeshi tailor in the town of Manikganj, was among those who received a pair of glasses as part of the study published this week. In an interview conducted by a community health worker and sent via email, she described how worsening presbyopia made it difficult to thread needles and sew clothes, adding to the time it took to complete the every sewing job. Over time, he said, some customers went elsewhere, and his income began to decline. “It made me feel very helpless,” he said.
Since receiving the glass, his income has doubled. “These glasses are like my lifeline,” he told the community health worker. “I couldn’t do my job without them.”
