Essilor India, the eye lenses specialist is launching a major awareness campaign across Lucknow to educate people about the need for timely vision correction. The first campaign has commenced in Lucknow which has a 4.5 million population and where the company observed that vision correction is not a priority. The campaign is endorsed by Vision Impact Institute, Vision 2020, IVI (India Vision Institute) and OCI (Optometry Council of India).
The estimated economic impact of uncorrected vision stands at a staggering Rs.2,00,000 crore in lost productivity annually in the country according to Vision Impact Institute. Wearing spectacles increased productivity by 34 per cent and 20 per cent increase in income.
In its effort to create awareness about the consequences of not giving importance to your eyes, Essilor is kicking off a 40-day campaign in Lucknow. The “Apne Ankhon ki sochiye” campaign is aimed at educating masses about the benefits of visual health. It focuses on the simple step of getting your eyes tested and wearing spectacles if needed, to correct vision. Another focus of the campaign is to inculcate the importance of getting an annual comprehensive eye exam, which helps in early detection of eye related issues like Glaucoma, Cataract and AMD (age related macular degeneration).
“Nearly half of India’s population needs vision correction. Despite high rates of literacy, eye care awareness in Lucknow is limited. Based on findings, 70 per cent of the reasons for uncorrected refractive errors are non-financial such as lack of awareness, avoidance and lack of priority. We want to bring focus to eye care and how vision correction can lead to change in every person life” said Shiv Kumar J, CEO, Essilor India.
Essilor has tied up with over 100 leading eye care professionals in Lucknow to provide free eye screenings and educate them about eye care. They will be facilitate eye screenings at various schools, colleges, residential societies and other populated areas across the city,
“Most of the time, vision correction is as simple as wearing a pair of corrective spectacles. Yet, 2.5 billion people across the world are living with uncorrected vision. We are working towards it on multiple fronts – through mobile screening vans in rural India to one on eye screenings supported by opticians in the urban towns.” said Ramachandran P Group COO Essilor India.
As per studies, the risk of failing a grade is 3 times more for children who have visual acuity below 20/20 versus children with good visual acuity. Today 4 out of 10 children’s performance in school suffers due to poor vision.