Essilor commits to further expanding its unique inclusive business and philanthropic programmes to eradicate unprotected and uncorrected poor vision in the Kingdom of Bhutan, where 25% of the population suffer from uncorrected refractive errors and much of the population is at risk of exposure to UVA/UVB rays due to high altitude.

The Group has signed Letters of Intent with the Royal Government of Bhutan and the Central Monastic Body to sustainably strengthen the country’svision care infrastructure. In line with their common ambition to eradicate unprotected and uncorrected poor vision, the partners will address the two biggest barriers to good vision, access and awareness, through training and capacity building, philanthropic support and awareness-raising.

To address the lack of skilled eye care professionals and access to eyewear, Essilor will bring its most successful inclusive-business, Eye Mitra™(“Friend of the eye” in Hindi), from India to Bhutan. By training women and men to become primary vision care providers and micro-entrepreneurs, Essilor will support qualified students to open up their own optical stores in their communities. This will not only help to sustainably improve access to affordable quality eye care across the Kingdom of Bhutan, but also to bring socio-economic value to rural communities.

Additionally, based on its globally successful training initiatives and tools to bolster local capacities, Essilor will train existing government health assistants, village health workers and monks from the Central Monastic Body, to do basic visual acuity tests, distribute simple reading glasses and direct patients with refractive errors to eye health practitioners, including the newly-trained micro-entrepreneurs if necessary.

 To meet the immediate need for correction and protection, Essilor will also donate 400,000 pairs of corrective eyewear and sunglasses, to be dispensed via existing healthcare programmes over the course of this partnership. This donation will be sufficient to provide first-time eyewear to all Bhutanese citizens suffering from uncorrected refractive errors, estimated to be around 25% of the population, and those living at very high altitudes exposed to high levels of UVA/UVB and in need of protection.

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