Several million people in the world need vision care, need a pair of glasses but cannot afford them. It is only because of poor vision, people cannot work, cannot learn and cannot provide for their families. OneDollarGlasses with material costs of approximately 1 USD are the solution
About OneDollarGlasses:
The OneDollarGlasses Association was founded in 2012 by Martin Aufmuth, the inventor of the OneDollarGlasses. The association is recognized by the fiscal authorities as being a charitable organization. The goal of the association is the worldwide supply of high quality, robust, affordable and individually customised glasses.
The OneDollarGlasses consist of an extremely lightweight, flexible and stable spring-steel wire. Colored beads and shrinkable tubing gives the glasses a unique, individual design. The OneDollarGlasses are produced on-site with a simple bending machine. The producers can live from the production and sales of the glasses. Patients are tested in their villages and receive the right glasses directly on the spot. The material costs for a pair of glasses are around 1 US Dollar (including wire, lens, shrinkable tubing and beads).
The OneDollarGlasses. They consist of a lightweight, flexible spring steel frame and prefab lenses and can be locally manufactured with simple bending machines. The material costs: approximately 1 USD.
If the needy can’t reach them, they reach the needy:
In the countries where the OneDollarGlasses Association is active, many people cannot afford to go to the next town or clinic to buy a pair of glasses. For this reason, the optician comes to the people in the village. In his suitcase, he has glasses frames in many different sizes and a box with the pre-cut lenses.
The patients are tested on-site and receive individually customised glasses directly on the spot. No second visit to the optician is needed, a visit which in many cases would anyways not have been possible for financial reasons.
According to a study commissioned by the WHO in 2007, approximately 150 Million people worldwide suffer from defective vision, which could be addressed via a simple visual aid. Many of these people live from one dollar a day or less and either cannot afford to buy conventional glasses or have no optician nearby.
The estimated loss of income from being unable to work or attend school amounts to around 120 Billion US-Dollar per year. (WHO Study 2008) OneDollarGlasses helps people to help themselves in Africa, Asia and South America.
