About

Our vision

To break through the lens of eyecare as a health issue and demonstrate how achieving vision correction can power the Sustainable Development Goals.

Our goals

By leveraging the potential of eyecare to simply transform lives, we can make better, faster progress to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, to which all UN members have already committed. These trials will provide a tapestry of evidence, featuring data and powerful stories of impact about the simple solution that can change the quality of life for more than one billion people.

Glasses, an invention more than 700-years-old are a simple, safe and reversible treatment for a global concern. And while technology searches for the next great invention, sometimes the answer is right in front of our eyes.

If policymakers design a world where affordable eyecare is universally available then it won’t require any leaps of logic and innovation. Simply the willpower and the investment to scale the solution globally.

The funders and researchers involved in DRIVE want to unveil a roadmap towards the Sustainable Development Goals that starts a vital conversation about the economic and ethical opportunity glasses can provide. Offering a tool for governments to give their people what they need to thrive and a blueprint for a more equitable world to come.

Through these trials, we hope to accelerate progress towards the following Sustainable Development Goals.

UN Sustainable Development Goal 1: No povertyAnnual global productivity loss from vision impairment is approximately US$410·7 billion.(1)
UN Sustainable Development Goal 3: Good health and well-beingDrivers with poor vision from Low and Middle-Income Countries are 46% more likely to involved in road traffic crashes than those without visual impairment.(3)
UN Sustainable Development Goal 5: Gender equalityIn many from Low and Middle-Income Countries, men are twice as likely as women to be able to access eye care.(7)
UN Sustainable Development Goal 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructureTo build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation Making eyeglasses accessible increases sustained income, earning potential, enhances learning and contributes to fostering innovation.
UN Sustainable Development Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communitiesTo make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable Significantly, higher risk has been observed for careless driving, speeding violations and property damage amongst visually impaired drivers.
UN Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero hungerGlasses increased the harvesting productivity of agricultural workers in India by 21·7%,(2) suggesting corrective glasses can increase food production and thus food security.
UN Sustainable Development Goal 4: Quality educationGiving glasses to children improves academic performance, equivalent to roughly an additional half semester of learning, (4,5) and vision correction reduces the odds of failing a class by 44%. (6)|
UN Sustainable Development Goal 8: Decent work and economic growthMore than one billion people across the globe need, but do not have, glasses. PROSPER I demonstrated how the provision of glasses can increase worker productivity by 31·6% for workers over the age of 50 years.(2)
UN Sustainable Development Goal 10: Reduced inequalitiesTo reduce inequality within and among countries An all-encompassing review of social determinants found that issues with gender inequality, socio-economic status, ethnicity and race and geographic inequalities are deepened by visual impairment.

Our pillars

Research

Rooted in evidence-based research, DRIVE will provide further proof of the importance of vision correction in improving life quality for all demographics across the lifecycle and around the world.

Development

These trials recognise that good vision is a signpost and a golden thread to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, which in themselves are a blueprint for a better, healthier and more equitable future.

Policy

In proving the developmental impact of eyecare and vision correction, DRIVE will activate policy and interventions that drive investment in solutions, such as procurement of glasses and increased vision screening.

“These trials look at the role of vision correction in powering not only better health outcomes for individuals, but in delivering sustainable development for countries around the world.”

Our story

DRIVE (Development and Research for International Vision correction and Equity) is the combination of eleven research trials, funded by the Chen Yet-Sen Family Foundation, Wellcome Trust, USAID, The MOH Foundation and Medical Research Council (UK). Together, they look at the role of vision correction in powering not only better health outcomes for individuals, but in delivering sustainable development for countries around the world.

The first DRIVE trial, PROSPER I, was completed in 2018 and proved that the productivity of a control group of tea-pickers in India significantly increased when provided with glasses to treat previously unaddressed sight problems.

A low-cost solution to a problem that impacts 2.2 billion people worldwide, the peer reviewed findings of PROSPER I helped to inform commitments from the Commonwealth Heads of Government and the United Nations, to back initiatives for universal affordable eyecare.

Focused on a range of demographics, from students at school and universities, to textile factory workers and older households, the next ten trials under the DRIVE umbrella – Bright Classrooms, CLEVER, PROSPER II, PROSPER III, STABLE, SWISH, THRIFT, ZEAL, SL2 and SL2 sub-study – will show that improving eyecare is both urgent and important for sustainable development.

The ultimate aim is not to deliver an invention, but to demonstrate that low-cost interventions exist and can be simply applied by policymakers to populations. In doing so, we believe they will improve education, literacy, productivity, financial independence, and mental and physical health.