Photo credit © Shrikant Ayyangar, Mission for Vision
Presbyopia, a common age-related condition characterized by a decreased ability to focus on near objects, affects a significant portion of the global population.
There are an estimated 826 million people who have the condition but are not receiving treatment for it, reflecting a huge amount of people who are less able to work, care for others or live life to the fullest.
Many governments and NGOs provide free near-vision glasses, but for a sustainable solution to the challenge, it should be explored whether people can be incentivised to buy further pairs themselves.
A new study in India by researchers from the International Centre for Eye Health has assessed how willing people are to buy their next set of glasses once provided with the first. The findings show that experience with an initial pair of glasses can increase willingness to travel and pay for subsequent pairs.
The study was embedded in an ongoing screening and referral program delivered in partnership between Dr Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital in India and Peek Vision, a social enterprise.
Within the screening programme, people who were found to have presbyopia were provided with experience of using near-vision glasses at their doorstep.
A total of 2,790 individuals were given glasses for 30 minutes, where they could use them to perform a chosen near-vision activity (for example threading a needle for stitching or reading a newspaper). They were then asked to rate their experience from ‘not good’ to ‘excellent’. No participants rated their experience as ‘not good’.
Glasses were then offered at a vision centre either for free, Indian Rupees 75 (US$0.90) or Indian Rupees 100 (US$1.20) (these prices were provided at different phases of the study).
Uptake was found to be highest in those who rated their experience with the initial glasses as ‘excellent’, with 60.9% going on to obtain their next pair of glasses.
81.4% of people took up their second pair of glasses when they were free, dropping to 48.3% ($0.90) and 29.2% ($1.20) for the paid glasses at different prices.
The proportion of people taking up free glasses and the pairs at $0.90 contrasts with the data from the original ongoing programme, where 31% of people went to buy their own glasses, without being provided an experience.
The authors found no difference between the rates of men and women taking up the glasses, or those who used public vs private transport.
As the uptake of glasses was so much higher when glasses were free, the findings imply that for the most efficient programme there may be an ongoing continuous cost for successful near-vision services, but a one-time cost for setting up the project, finding patients and distributing the glasses.
The authors suggest for further research a study where only certain individuals in an area are given an experience with glasses and then investigating whether this could influence others to buy their next pair.
Collectively, the results show that providing an experience of using near-vision glasses in a rural population in India can increase the desire to acquire glasses despite the barriers of distance and time. Providing the first pair of near-vision glasses free of cost in programs to ensure initial experience, with the subsequent pairs available at a subsidised cost for these rural populations may lead to a long-term impact on the unmet need for near-vision glasses.
Publication
Sabherwal S, Nayab J, Mazumdar A, Thaker N, Javed M, Nathawat R, et al. Willingness to pay for a second pair of near-vision glasses: a cross-sectional study in a rural North Indian population. BMC Public Health. 2025 Apr 22;25(1):1495. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-22278-2