Poor vision can have significant impact on education and work opportunities, but it is not always obvious to those outside the sector. The charity Sightsavers has been working to link eye health and other development issues such as education and road safety. In 2016, through funding from the Global Partnership for Education, Sightsavers started an initiative to show how schools can be a platform to deliver health interventions.
Ministries of health and education in partner countries were brought together to co-own and co-design these health interventions in schools, which included vision screening and deworming. Preventing visual impairment requires raising visibility and financing for eye care outside the sector, as well as outside the traditional donor aid model.