Abstract
- The Ministry of Well being is but to publicly launch information displaying the place 1000’s of promised studying glasses have been distributed.
- Official acknowledges that glasses which have been distributed have been supplied by worldwide donors.
- Transparency actors say the failure to launch proof of the disbursement makes it tough to confirm the true attain and affect of this system.
By Fatu Kamara with New Narratives
In October, as a part of World Sight Day celebrations, Liberia’s Nationwide Eye Well being Program made an thrilling announcement: an formidable program by the unit housed within the Ministry of Well being promised to ship badly wanted assist to Liberian college students combating poor imaginative and prescient. This system was to display screen 1,000 college students and distribute 12,000 studying glasses.
In response to an announcement from Well being Minister Dr. Louise Kpoto this system was a significant step towards addressing widespread, untreated imaginative and prescient issues amongst schoolchildren which has been affecting studying outcomes nationwide.
However greater than three months later, the ministry has but to launch an in depth, public breakdown displaying what number of glasses have been distributed, elevating issues amongst potential beneficiaries about accountability for the mission.
The shortage of information has angered some eye well being advocates who say well timed and detailed reporting is particularly necessary for applications tied to publicly introduced targets.
“How do we all know the affect when the numbers usually are not introduced publicly?” says an optician who requested to not be named for worry of retaliation from authorities. “Communities count on to see the place these providers went. With out that data, it turns into tough to confirm the affect.”
He additionally expressed issues in regards to the figures that supplied on the program launch.
“How do you display screen 1,000 folks and distribute 12,000 glasses?” he asks. “Does that imply the remaining 11,000 will obtain the glasses with out screening?”
In December, after months of repeated inquiries by this reporter and several other missed interview appointments, the Ministry of Well being supplied figures by way of WhatsApp, stating that 2,500 college students have been screened and 5,719 glasses (together with clip-on prescription lenses) have been distributed throughout Montserrado, Bong, River Gee, and Nimba counties.
Hiaka Hinneh, deputy director of the Nationwide Eye Well being Program, stated all have been supplied by donors and most had not but been distributed.
“We acquired 12,000 studying glasses,” he says. “Seven thousand have been equipped by OneSight and 5 thousand by Higher World” (two worldwide nonprofits). “Solely 3,108 studying glasses have to date been distributed. The remaining 8,891 glasses are nonetheless on the ministry and shall be distributed throughout upcoming campaigns.”
FrontPage Africa/New Narratives discovered donor and authorities information appeared to have blurred making outcomes unclear. Ministry figures present that the two,600 ready-to-clip prescription glasses distributed in Bong County have been a part of a OneSight initiative. Hinneh stated the ministry had meant to incorporate information from Good Imaginative and prescient’s outreach in its general whole however acknowledged that the data was not added.
Hinneh stated ministry groups visited two faculties in Montserrado County – Gaye City Public Faculty and Paynesville Group Faculty – however he couldn’t present a breakdown of what number of college students acquired glasses at every college or neighborhood.
Hinneh attributed this lack of information to random screening strategies and reporting practices.
Bonyonnoa McCarthy, principal of the Gaye City Public Faculty, confirmed that the ministry visited the college however he wouldn’t give official numbers on what number of college students have been screened or acquired glasses.
A Widespread Want
The shortage of readability on this system comes amid important nationwide need. Well being specialists estimate that one in three Liberians requires imaginative and prescient correction. A 2021 Ministry of Well being survey discovered that 85 % of Liberians who want glasses do not need entry to them, largely resulting from value and restricted availability of providers. Many schoolchildren are having education impacted by the dearth of imaginative and prescient correction.
Nonprofit organizations have more and more stepped in to fill the hole. Good Imaginative and prescient, the native arm of a world NGO that gives backed eye care providers, says it frequently submits outreach studies to the Ministry of Well being after neighborhood screenings.
“After we do outreaches, we submit our studies to the ministry,” says Jackson Smith, Good Imaginative and prescient’s nation director. “However we don’t management how the figures are later compiled or reported.”
Since 2019, Good Imaginative and prescient stated it has supplied free eye screenings and backed glasses throughout Liberia. In 2025 alone, the group carried out 446 outreaches throughout Grand Bassa, Grand Cape Mount, Margibi, Bomi, Bong and Montserrado counties, screened greater than 16,000 folks and distributed over 8,000 pairs of glasses, giving greater than 300 away freed from cost.
Clear Imaginative and prescient Turns into Inexpensive
One among Good Imaginative and prescient’s beneficiaries is 26-year-old Stephen Korvah, a classroom trainer who earns $US150 a month. He says entry to inexpensive glasses has been life-changing.
He started experiencing imaginative and prescient issues in highschool, however his household initially assumed he was not critical about college. It was solely after he started working in 2016 that he realized he was myopic or “brief sighted” – which means he couldn’t see lengthy distances, an issue that afflicts one in three folks globally.
His first pair of prescription glasses, bought a number of years in the past from a personal clinic in Monrovia, value $US150. “That was my whole wage,” Korvah says. “However with out the glasses I used to be in whole darkness.”
Three years later when his glasses wanted to get replaced he needed to pay one other $150. “I already accepted the worth,” he stated. “As a result of each different place I went; the worth was related.”
That modified in 2023, when Korvah acquired prescription glasses by Good Imaginative and prescient for simply $US5.
“It was surprising,” Korvah stated. “I used to be saving $US145 of my wage. That may do an entire lot for me.”
Smith says affordability is central to Good Imaginative and prescient’s mission.
“A part of our core ethics is that nobody ought to come to Good Imaginative and prescient and go away with out glasses, particularly for refractive error,” Smith says. “If the glasses value $US40, we cowl about ninety-eight %. Individuals pay these small quantities simply so that they really feel possession of the glasses and this system can proceed.”
Smith says the necessity in Liberia is huge. Along with the one in three Liberians who need assistance with myopia, he stated almost everybody over the age of fifty experiences some type of imaginative and prescient impairment.
Smith says Good Imaginative and prescient frequently conducts outreach applications in counties and distant communities with out everlasting eye care amenities.
Liberia faces systemic constraints in eye care supply, together with a extreme scarcity of educated professionals with solely three optometrists nationwide and a reliance on imported glasses, which drives up prices. As donors withdraw from the nation the necessity for presidency to step up has solely elevated.
“That’s why we NGOs have a accountability to accomplice with the Ministry of Well being on capability strengthening,” Smith says. “NGOs might not be right here eternally, however the authorities will stay.”
As for the remaining World Sight Day glasses, the Ministry of Well being says distribution is ongoing. However till detailed, school-level information is made public, mother and father, educators, and communities are left unsure about who benefited from this system.
This report was produced with New Narratives as a part of the Investigating Liberia mission. Funding was supplied by the Swedish Embassy in Liberia, which had no say within the story’s content material.
