SYDNEY—In 2016, Our Children’s Vision, a foundation dedicated to providing children with eyecare, was founded with a lofty goal: provide much-needed vision care to 50 million children, worldwide, by 2020. To achieve this goal, Our Children’s Vision put together a team of 79 partners in 55 countries. Now, nearing the end of 2018, Our Children’s Vision has announced they’ve provided vision care to 27 million children around the world, surpassing the halfway point for their overall goal. Our Children’s Vision’s work is vital in helping children around the world reach their full potential.

According to the foundation, millions of children worldwide cannot see clearly and do not have access to the basic vision care they need. Providing children with vision care is the most cost effective health intervention for improving academic performance, according to Our Children’s Vision, but proper vision care still falls by the wayside. Ignoring this problem can prevent a child from achieving their dreams—not being able to see clearly can make it hard for children to do well in school, to succeed later in life, and, even just to play outside with their friends.

Ensuring that all children have their full vision potential doesn’t just help individual children—it helps society as a whole, as well as our planet’s future. Jayanth Bhuvaraghan, chief mission officer, Essilor International and chairman of Vision for Life explained, “By giving children access to vision correction, we are empowering them to achieve their full potential at school, but we are also hoping to give them access to a better future and ultimately to reduce inequalities and poverty in their country.”

Our Children’s Vision will continue to work toward their goal of providing 50 million children with vision care by 2020, globally. You can read more about the individual children receiving this vision care here.