Conclusion

The eyeglasses gap is concentrated in LMICs where the need is rapidly growing. A new focus from global policymakers on reducing the global burden of vision loss due to refractive error suggests that the optical sector may see rapid developments in the coming years.

Regarding supply, the international eyewear market is dominated by a handful of multinational corporations with robust positions in high-income markets, while a substantial number of eyewear manufacturers are based in China. There’s an increasing interest in bolstering domestic eyewear production in countries like India, yet African countries continue to depend heavily on imports.

Domestic prices for both reading and prescription eyeglasses remain inflated due to inefficiencies in the supply chain. This situation is further aggravated by a lack of regulation on the quality and sale of eyeglasses in many countries, leading to exorbitant costs for consumers. It is essential to ensure that eyeglasses meet, at the very least, ISO quality standards or their equivalent. Moving forward, it is crucial to tackle the issues of quality control and domestic price surges to guarantee universal access to vision correction and to address the unsatisfied demand for eyecare in LMICs. An industry regulatory reform would be beneficial across many LMICs.

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