Last week, EssilorLuxottica celebrated World Sight Day with our partners all around the world. We were so excited to be able to get vision care to places that need it the most, in a safe and efficient way. Our teams carried out various outreach, eye screening and fundraising events, with the aim of putting the next generation’s vision first this World Sight Day. Here are some of the many highlights:
EssilorLuxottica China hosted a “second classroom” event on vision health in a key primary school in Shanghai. In addition, a 3D book, “Our Eyes”, jointly developed by EssilorLuxottica and a think tank affiliated with the Ministry of Education in 2020, was distributed to all attending students at the school’s library.
Our team in Colombia offered free eye exams for children at a children’s foundation and held talks to raise awareness about the impact of poor vision on children for parents. They are also offering free clinics throughout the month of October for children foundations.
EssilorLuxottica France conducted vision screening activities in twenty Parisian town halls and offered a full day of free vision screening to children in Ligny en Barrois, a commune in the Meuse department.
In Indonesia, 2.5 NVG donated eyeglasses to 2,000 teachers and students, and initiative that was supported by the Ministry of Education in the Jakarta Province and the Layak Foundation.
In Mexico, we launched a crowdfunding campaign with the aim to raise USD $20,000 to benefit 3,000 children from underserved communities through a donate-one-give-one model.
In South Africa, the African Eye Institute (AEI), in partnership with Cooper Vision and 2.5 NVG, provided free eye examinations and spectacles to children needing them at two schools based in the South of Durban.
In addition to the work we did with children, we also focused on other underserved communities.
Instituto Ver e Viver, the 2.5 NVG initiative in Brazil, partnered with OIM, the UN International Organization for Migration, to provide refugee women with access to visual correction. The women are part of a program that helps them enter the labor market through entrepreneurship and as many of these women are seamstresses and artisans, having good vision is key.
2.5 NVG & EVF India, mobilised all its local teams and partners to create vision awareness and organise vision screening events across India. 2.5NVG partnered with Sightsavers in Madhya Pradesh and conducted large scale screening activities in which more than 5,000 people from marginalised communities were screened and spectacles were provided wherever needed. 2.5 NVG also partnered with Apollo Tyres Foundation to screen and provide vision correction to over 20,000 truck drivers in 31 transport hubs across 19 states.
EVF USA provided eye exams and glasses to 39 Special Olympic athletes at the inaugural regional Fall Games on October 16. EVF and EssilorLuxottica have supported Special Olympics for many years and are
dedicated to continuing to provide high-quality vision care to individuals with intellectual disabilities.
We look forward to working closely with governments, NGO partners and businesses throughout the year to continue our mission of eliminating poor vision in a generation.