Dec. 12, 2024 — Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) has announced the recipients of its 2024 grant program, awarding nearly $1 million across 16 grants to 15 organizations worldwide. The funding will support initiatives aimed at addressing uncorrected refractive errors and improving access to vision care in underserved regions.

OGS’s 2024 grant recipients and projects:

• African Eye Institute Trust: providing eye exams and free eyewear for children, vision screening training for teachers, and advocacy to encourage government prioritization of child eye care in South Africa
• Berkeley Vision: providing the screening of, and necessary eyewear for, 20,000 schoolchildren in Karachi, Pakistan, in addition to providing training for optometrists and educators
• Brien Holden Vision Institute Foundation: expanding clinical care at the Pediatric Refractive Error Training Centre in Hanoi, Vietnam, which is affiliated with Hanoi Medical University’s optometry program
• Canadian Vision Care: supporting repairs to the University of Mzuzu’s vision teaching center in Mzuzu, Malawi, which has trained more than 60 optometrists since its establishment in 2008
• Healing California: funding mobile and pop-up vision clinics to provide essential vision care to underserved communities across California
• India Vision Institute: providing instructional training to 100 faculty members at 40 optometry schools in India, indirectly benefiting 3,200 students
• Light for the World International: training 20 optometrists employed by the government in Mozambique with a focus on pediatric eye care
• See Better. Learn Better Jamaica, LTD: delivering optometry services, eyeglasses for schoolchildren, and training for opticians and optometry students to improve the overall eye health system in western Jamaica
• Special Olympics International: enhancing the Opening Eyes program to provide vision care for athletes with intellectual disabilities and training for practitioners who volunteer
• Technological University of Santiago: offering eye exams and glasses for 1,000 children in public schools and conducting research on refractive error prevalence in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
• Université de Montréal/Unité de Santé Internationale: supporting optometry program development in French-speaking countries, including Morocco, Congo, and Senegal
• Université de Montréal: continuing development of the University of Haiti’s School of Optometry, which graduated its first cohort of Haitian optometrists this year
• Vision Action: strengthening the optometry profession by training technicians and launching the country’s Optometry Association to support continuing education in Sierra Leone
• Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity California: establishing an optical lab at the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua to produce affordable eyeglasses for community outreach programs in Nicaragua
• Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity: providing training and equipment to optometry schools and practitioners in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East while expanding primary vision care services
• World Council of Optometry: offering advocacy and leadership training to optometrists in countries where the profession is still developing

Since its inception, OGS has awarded more than $23 million in grants, supporting projects in 47 countries. Over the past 21 years, the organization has helped establish 14 optometry schools, trained more than 14,000 practitioners, created 130 vision centers, and provided care to more than 8 million people.