視力影響研究院提醒視力障礙問題

From the latest UN data available, the Vision Impact Institute has estimated that there are 2.5bn people in the world who have poor vision, and no means of correcting it. That is not far short of the number of people who live in China, India and Japan, combined.

根據聯合國(UN)現有最新數據，視力影響研究院(Vision Impact Institute)估計，全球有25億人患有未矯正的視力障礙問題。這個數字幾乎相當於中國、印度和日本人口的總和。

It is thought that nearly 80 per cent of these cases could be corrected by something as simple as a pair of glasses.

而視力影響研究院認爲，其中近80%的人只需一副眼鏡就能矯正。

Poor vision is not a life-threatening condition; it falls into a non-urgent category, which puts it low on the priority scale for development funding, often failing to make the list for global health and economic categorisation is undeserved and must change. According to a landmark report published by Access Economics, rates of poor vision are costing the global economy an estimated $3tn a year. That’s more than the total gross domestic product of Africa.

視力障礙並不危及生命；它被劃分爲非緊急問題，因此在發展資金的資助對象中優先等級靠後，經常不在全球健康和經濟發展目標之列。這種劃分不恰當，必須改變。根據Access Economics發表的一份具有里程碑意義的報告，視力障礙估計每年導致全球經濟損失3萬億美元，超過非洲國內生產總值(GDP)的總和。

Current rates of poor vision are a crippling impediment to economic growth, particularly in developing economies.

目前龐大的視力障礙人口數量阻礙了經濟發展，特別是在發展中經濟體。

Existing research demonstrates the direct costs of poor vision on healthcare provision, as well as the indirect costs of lost productivity in the workplace, road and domestic accidents and informal and family care.

現有的研究顯示了視力障礙給醫療供應帶來的直接成本，以及勞動生產率下降、道路和室內事故、非正式和家庭看護等間接成本。

However, even the current cost is likely to be a conservative estimate. Poor vision is also having a widespread impact on school attendance, personal development, and literacy rates, which are far more difficult to quantify.

然而，甚至連當前成本也可能是一個保守的估計。視力障礙還對學校出勤率、個人發展以及識字率造成普遍影響，這些都很難量化。

For example, a pilot study that took place in rural China last year, demonstrated that the impact of vision on children’s educational outcomes, significantly outstripped the enormous influence of both parental education and family wealth.

例如，一份去年在中國農村地區開展的試點研究顯示，視力對於兒童學習成績的影響遠遠超過了家庭教育和家庭財富的巨大影響。

Childhood education and literacy targets are rightly a high priority on the global health and social agenda. Yet, whilst the endemic problem of uncorrected vision remains unacknowledged, children across the globe are prevented from accessing the benefits of the education, and literacy support available.

兒童教育和識字率目標理應列在全球健康和社會發展議程的優先位置。然而，未矯正視力的普遍問題仍然沒有得到充分認識，全球兒童無法充分享受教育福利以及現有的掃盲支持。

There is a genuine concern that failing to tackle this essential human need is preventing the work of global humanitarian agencies from having the impact they should.

人們確實擔心，這個根本的人類需要未得到滿足，正阻礙全球人道主義組織的工作發揮應有的影響。

Poor vision also has a dramatic effect on the world of work. There is substantive evidence demonstrating the direct impact of poor vision on productivity, with the World Health Organization estimating that the impact of poor vision on global productivity costs $272bn.

視力障礙也會對勞動場所造成巨大影響。很多證據證明視力障礙會對生產率造成直接影響，世界衛生組織(WHO)估計，視力障礙造成的全球生產率損失達到2720億美元。

A recent study published by the Vision Impact Institute showed that 80 per cent of workers in textile factories in South India unknowingly required vision correction, which, when provided, lead to a boost of 45 per cent in productivity.

視力影響研究院最近發佈的一項研究顯示，在印度南部紡織工廠工人中，有80%的人視力需要矯正而不自知，如果得到矯正，他們的生產率將提高45%。

Anecdotal evidence also suggests that low productivity caused by poor vision can lead to an employment gap, or job losses, particularly in developing economies where large unemployment pools mean that labour can be rapidly replaced.

坊間證據還顯示，視力障礙導致的生產率低下可能會造成就業損失，尤其是在發展中經濟體，那裏的大批失業人口意味着勞動力可以迅速被替代。

And perhaps most urgently, a recent report published by the World Health Organization has shown that in many African countries road traffic accidents are now responsible for more deaths than malaria. In the next five years, they will be the biggest cause of death across the continent – many of which as a direct result of poor eyesight.

或許最爲緊迫的問題是，世衛組織最近公佈的一份報告顯示，在很多非洲國家，道路交通事故導致的死亡率高於瘧疾。未來5年，前者將成爲非洲人的最大死因，其中很多是由視力障礙直接導致的。

It might be an imperceptible disability – but it is one that is having a seismic impact on both economic and social development in countries around the world.

這或許是一種人們感覺不到的殘疾，但它將給世界各國的經濟和社會發展都造成巨大影響。

However, in a world that has found unimaginable cures for some of the most vicious diseases, created cars that can drive themselves, and sparked a brand new race to put mankind on Mars, it is evident that we are capable of finding a solution to providing equal access to clear vision across the globe.

然而，在當今世界，一些最可怕的疾病已找到不可思議的療法，無人駕駛汽車已被製造出來，一場把人類送上火星的全新競賽已經啓動，因此我們顯然有能力找到解決辦法，讓全世界人民平等享有清晰的視力。

It will require the backing of leading innovators and technologists, scientists and investors, big business, governments and NGOs, to take on this challenge and rethink the approach to world vision.

要迎接這一挑戰並重新思考解決全球視力問題的方法，就需要領先的創新者、技術專家、科學家、投資者、大企業、政府以及非政府組織的支持。

However, investing in improving vision comes with high returns. PwC estimates that for every $1 invested, there is an average $4 of economic gain. In Pakistan, for example, a country with the potential to become one of the world’s largest economies, the cost of eliminating avoidable blindness is $11.6bn, but it would deliver a $70 billion benefit to the country’s economy.

然而，投資於改善視力會獲得高回報。普華永道(PwC)估計，每投入1美元，就會獲得平均4美元的經濟收益。例如，在有潛力成爲全球最大經濟體之一的巴基斯坦，消除可以避免的失明需要投入116億美元，但它將爲該國經濟帶來700億美元的收益。

There are already a number of promising innovations in diagnostics emerging, which have the potential to be genuinely transformative.

目前在診斷領域已出現很多大有希望的創新，它們可能會起到真正的變革作用。

Just one example is a new technology that allows health care workers to take high quality retinal images using a smart phone. The digital images captured are of a high enough resolution to assist in the detection of cataracts, macular degeneration, diabetes and glaucoma.

例如，有一種新技術可以讓健康護理工作者用一部智能手機拍攝高質量的視網膜圖像。這些數碼照片像素很高，足以幫助檢測白內障、黃斑退化、糖尿病和青光眼。

This innovation is evidence of the enormous potential created when just a small team of eye-specialists, public health doctors and product designers come together to solve a single problem.

這種創新證明，一個由眼科專家、公共健康醫生以及產品設計師組成的小團隊聚集在一起解決問題會創造巨大的潛能。

Organizations have also begun to capitalize on the potential of new drone technology, connecting aid-workers to fleets of the aircraft via SMS, to overcome the problem of poor infrastructure and accessibility of aid. Imagine the impact if this technology was deployed to provide better vision to the developing world.

一些組織已開始利用新的無人機技術，將援助工作者通過短信與無人機機羣互聯，以解決落後的基礎設施和援助難獲得的問題。想象一下，如果利用這種技術改善發展中國家人口的視力，會產生什麼影響。

In order to tackle this global challenge, we need to replicate, amplify and coordinate these advances, on a global scale. It can and it must be done.

爲了應對這一全球性挑戰，我們需要在全球範圍內複製、放大並協調這些進步。這是可以做到的，也是必須要做的。

It has been 700 years since the humble spectacle was invented, and yet billions of people in the developing world do not have access to them.

自人類發明不起眼的眼鏡已過去700年了，然而發展中國家仍有數十億人戴不上眼鏡。

It’s time to harness the available new tools and new insights for the next wave of innovation.

現在是爲下一波創新浪潮利用現有的新工具和新見解的時候了。

It’s time for us to lead a charge to put vision on the global agenda, where it belongs.

我們應該帶頭努力讓視力問題進入其應屬的全球議程。