Why It Makes Sense To Give The World’s Poorest People Glasses That Cost Just $2 | ThinkProgress

A free eye exam is performed on a patient at the Remote Area Medical (RAM) clinic inside the Los Angeles Sports Arena on Wednesday, April 28, 2010, in Los Angeles.

by 2018, thanks to the efforts of British businessman James Chen and international nonprofit Vision for a Nation. Chen’s company Adlens designed the spectacles — which cost less than two U.S. dollars — using a design from late Nobel Prize-winning scientist Luis Alvarez.

that the project, financed by the U.K.’s Department for International Development, will likely expand to African countries Botswana and Namibia, and Bhutan in Asia.

of vision loss include age-related macular degeneration, cataracts, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. During a time when vision loss — partial or whole — affects nearly

. “British ingenuity like this can transform the lives of millions of visually impaired people across the developing world. I’m proud that British inventors are responsible for breakthroughs that continue to improve the world around us.”

While eyeglasses can serve as an aid for the visually impaired, many low-income people don’t have access to corrective vision tools, due in part to its

that it’s hard for poor people to find someone to conduct even the simplest exam. That’s why the World Health Organization’s latest action plan called for a focus on “

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