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A clearer vision, a second chance at livelihood

Published : Monday, 14 September, 2026 at 7:27 PM

Mustakim Hasan

For millions in Bangladesh, avoidable vision loss is more than a health concern. For people dependent on daily work, it can determine whether they remain economically active or fall out of the workforce.

For 67-year-old Abul Kalam Azad of Chirirbandar, Dinajpur, deteriorating eyesight did more than blur the world around him. It eventually cost him his livelihood.

Azad worked as a salesperson for a herbal products company. His job required him to travel, meet customers and manage everyday sales activities. As cataract progressively affected his vision, continuing the job became increasingly difficult.

Eventually, he lost it.

For someone whose income depended on his ability to move around and work independently, declining eyesight meant more than an eye problem. It meant losing economic independence.

His situation changed after he was reached through a community-based eye health programme in Chirirbandar. An examination identified his cataract and he was referred for treatment. He later underwent cataract surgery.

His eyesight has since improved. More importantly, he has returned to work.

Azad now runs a small grocery shop in his locality, rebuilding a source of income after poor vision had pushed him out of employment.

His story is personal, but the problem it reflects is much broader.

More than 36 million people in Bangladesh are estimated to have poor vision, according to information in the country's draft commitment prepared for the 2026 Global Summit for Eye Health. Around 20 million of these cases are considered avoidable, meaning timely and appropriate eye care could prevent or treat the impairment.

For some, the solution may be as simple as a pair of spectacles. For others, it may involve cataract surgery or the timely detection and treatment of an eye disease.

The bigger challenge is ensuring that people receive that care before poor vision begins to reshape their lives.

When an eye problem becomes an economic problem

Vision impairment is often discussed in terms of blindness and disability. But for people whose livelihoods depend on their ability to work, its consequences can quickly become economic.

A salesperson who can no longer travel, a farmer struggling to work in the field, a small trader unable to distinguish products or money clearly, or an older person becoming increasingly dependent on family members all illustrate how closely eyesight is linked to economic participation and independence.

Avoidable vision loss is therefore not only a public health issue. It is also a development issue.

The challenge can be greater in rural areas, where specialised eye care may require long journeys and expenses that low-income families cannot easily afford.

Bringing eye care closer to communities

This is where community-based eye care can make a difference.

Instead of relying entirely on patients to travel to specialised facilities, community eye camps can help identify vision problems closer to where people live.

Patients can be screened and advised according to their needs. Some may require spectacles, while others may need further examination or treatment. Those requiring cataract surgery can then be referred to hospitals and followed up after treatment.

In Dinajpur, Gausul Azam BNSB Eye Hospital is implementing community-based eye health activities with technical support from Helen Keller Intl under the *Clear Vision for Dinajpur: Combating Cataract Blindness in Bangladesh project, supported by the Cure Blindness Project.

Azad was among those reached through the initiative.

His experience also shows why the success of cataract surgery should not be measured only by restored eyesight. The real impact can extend to a person's ability to work, earn and live independently.

From Dinajpur to a national challenge

Bangladesh is now seeking to take eye care closer to rural communities.

State Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr M A Muhit said in August that the government plans to introduce advanced eye-care services in around 500 upazilas, reducing the need for people in rural and remote areas to travel to district towns or Dhaka for treatment.

The government is also finalising an integrated National Eye Care Plan targeting around one million cataract surgeries, alongside expanded refractive and other essential eye-care services.

Primary eye care is expected to become a compulsory component of the training of around 100,000 health workers being recruited by the government. District-level infrastructure is also expected to be strengthened for regular cataract surgery and refractive services.

Such a shift is important because Bangladesh's eye-health challenge cannot be addressed through specialised hospitals in major cities alone.

The country continues to face difficulties in expanding eye care because of limited access in rural and remote areas, an ageing population and the growing prevalence of diabetes, according to the state minister.

The proposed national approach and experiences from places such as Chirirbandar therefore converge on one essential principle: eye care must reach people before they lose the ability to reach care themselves.

An ambitious 2030 goal

Bangladesh is also looking at the issue on a much larger scale.

The draft national commitment being prepared ahead of the 2026 Global Summit for Eye Health sets an ambition to bring 20 million people under essential eye-care services by 2030. It also envisages providing 10 million pairs of spectacles and carrying out one million cataract surgeries.

Meeting these targets will require more than increasing the number of surgeries.

It will require identifying people before their conditions become disabling, strengthening referral systems, expanding the eye-health workforce and ensuring that patients identified in remote communities complete the journey from diagnosis to treatment.

Coordination will be equally important.

Dr Muhit has said significant work is already being carried out by the government, private sector and NGOs, but the absence of an integrated reporting system remains a challenge. The government is working towards bringing these efforts under a common national approach.

For Abul Kalam Azad, however, the value of such investment is already visible in a small grocery shop in Chirirbandar.

Cataract contributed to the loss of his job. After surgery, he was able to start earning again.

His shop may be small, but the change it represents is not.

For millions of Bangladeshis living with avoidable vision problems, timely eye care can mean much more than seeing clearly. It can mean protecting a livelihood, retaining independence and getting a second chance to participate fully in everyday life.

sks