Curriculum The Economics of Eye Care
The Economics of Eye Care
How India tackles blindness and poor vision: the burden of avoidable blindness, cataract surgery at scale, Aravind Eye Care's model, cheap lenses from Aurolab, spectacles and the eyewear market, Lenskart, myopia in children, eye donation, diabetic eye disease, and a recap.
- Avoidable Blindness in India How many Indians live with blindness or vision loss, why most of it is avoidable through cataract surgery or glasses, and the economic cost of poor vision. 📄 Read-aloud
- Cataract Surgery at Scale How cataract surgery restores sight in about 15 minutes with an artificial lens, why India performs millions of these surgeries a year, and why it's highly cost-effective. 📄 Read-aloud
- Aravind Eye Care's Model How Dr G. Venkataswamy founded Aravind Eye Hospital in Madurai in 1976 and used assembly-line efficiency and cross-subsidies to give free surgery to the poor. 📄 Read-aloud
- Aurolab and Cheap Lenses How Aurolab, set up by Aravind in 1992, cut the price of intraocular lenses from around $100 to a few dollars, making cataract surgery affordable worldwide. 📄 Read-aloud
- Spectacles: The Cheapest Fix How many Indians need glasses but don't have them, research showing reading glasses raise workers' productivity, and why cheap glasses remain underused. 📄 Read-aloud
- Lenskart and the Eyewear Market How Lenskart, founded in 2010, grew from online eyewear to thousands of stores with in-house manufacturing, and how eyewear pricing works. 📄 Read-aloud
- The Economics of Eye Care: Checkpoint 1 Quick checkpoint - five questions on blindness, cataract surgery, Aravind, Aurolab and glasses. 5 questions
- The Myopia Epidemic in Children Why short-sightedness is rising among children in India and worldwide, linked to screen time and less outdoor play, and its long-term costs. 📄 Read-aloud
- Eye Donation and Corneal Blindness How corneal blindness can be treated with donated corneas, why India faces a shortage, and how eye banks work. 📄 Read-aloud
- Diabetes and Eye Disease How diabetic retinopathy threatens the sight of millions of Indians with diabetes, why regular screening matters, and how AI screening helps. 📄 Read-aloud
- The Eye Care Workforce How India's shortage of ophthalmologists in rural areas is eased by optometrists and trained ophthalmic assistants, a form of task-shifting. 📄 Read-aloud
- Government Eye Care Schemes How the National Programme for Control of Blindness and Visual Impairment funds cataract surgery, free spectacles for school children and vision screening. 📄 Read-aloud
- Eye Care: Recap A recap of the economics of eye care in India. 📄 Read-aloud