Vision Action (formerly Vision Aid Overseas - VAO) is a

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, which provides optical aid and services to developing countries in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

History

In 1985, a group of British

optometrist Optometry is the healthcare practice concerned with examining the eyes for visual defects, prescribing corrective lenses, and detecting eye abnormalities. In the United States and Canada, optometrists are those that hold a post-baccalaureate f ...

s and dispensing

optician An optician is an individual who fits glasses or contact lenses by filling a refractive prescription from an optometrist or ophthalmologist. They are able to translate and adapt ophthalmic prescriptions, dispense products, and work with acces ...

s each took two weeks out of their businesses to establish clinics in

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

, where they tested the eyes of local people and dispensed second-hand spectacles collected in UK. After the project gained publicity via the media and resultant public support, they formalised their efforts by registering the charity Vision Aid Overseas (VAO) in 1987. Founded on the delivery of direct service to patient, since registering as a charity, VAO has operated direct service clinics in 23 countries and tested the eyes of over 600,000 patients, helping over 350,000 people to see with a pair of spectacles. In the 1997 New Years Honours list, founder Brian Ellis was awarded the MBE. From 2010 to 2020, VAO organized a recycling scheme collecting used glasses from the public in the UK for sorting and recycling. The program was stopped when its operating costs became too burdening for the non-profit. In January 2022, VAO announced its merger with Vision for a Nation Foundation. In November 2022, Vision Aid Overseas became Vision Action.

Operations

Vision Action today focuses it operations around three core services: *Optical Training: Establish International Vision Centres where high quality spectacles can be manufactured and sold at an affordable price following a thorough eye examination *Optical Workshop Development: Train local healthcare workers in practical eye testing and vision health skills that equips them to work as primary eyecare workers in their local communities *Direct Service Deliver: Utilize the expertise of UK optical professionals who develop outreach services in areas away from existing facilities and who undertake teaching programmes across the developing world VAO presently runs sustainable projects in five target countries:

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

, and

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

Support

VAO Honorary Vice Presidents include competing newsreaders Fiona Bruce of the BBC, and Sir Trevor MacDonald of

ITV News ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British news television channel of ITV (TV network), ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. ITN, Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the netwo ...

. In February 2005 Bruce did the voice over for VAO's Lifeline Appeal, and in 2007 launched VAO's Annual Review. The charity has formalised its relationship with the UK eye care industry, and is often the chosen charity supported by many dispensing opticians, and professionals via the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers, who collect old spectacles from customers for

recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the propert ...

via VAO. The charity gained publicity in 2005 after the death of '' Countdown'' game show host Richard Whiteley. After his death, his longtime partner Kathryn Apanowicz donated three pairs of Whiteley's spectacles to VAO, who sent them with a team of optical professionals to Ethiopia, where they were fitted to three locals with the same prescription. The

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

followed this story on their ''Inside Out'' programme, which was broadcast on 19 September 2007.

References

External links

* {{authority control Optometry Health charities in the United Kingdom Foreign charities operating in Ethiopia Charities based in West Sussex 1987 establishments in the United Kingdom Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers Foreign charities operating in Malawi Foreign charities operating in Sierra Leone Foreign charities operating in Uganda Foreign charities operating in Zambia