The World Health Organization (WHO) has partnered with the Universal Postal Union (UPU) to expand access to eye care using postal networks. The collaboration aims to utilize the wide reach of postal services to deliver crucial eye care, including affordable near-vision glasses, to people in different parts of the world.
"This collaboration represents an innovative approach to addressing uncorrected presbyopia, a condition that affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide, particularly in underserved communities," said Stuart Keel, Technical Officer in WHO's Noncommunicable Diseases, Rehabilitation and Disability Department. "By combining WHO's public health expertise with the trusted presence of postal services in local communities, we're bringing essential eye care closer to where people live and work."
"Postal networks have a special role in communities, beyond handling communication and business," said Susan C. Alexander, Programme Manager from UPU's Sustainability Services, Policy, Regulation and Markets Directorate. "Through this collaboration, we're opening doors to improve the health and quality of life for both postal employees and the people they serve."
The agreement, signed at WHO headquarters in Geneva, includes a joint plan of action from 2025 to 2027. The plan focuses on two key goals: using postal services to distribute near-vision glasses and promoting awareness about eye health among postal workers and the communities they serve.
Delivering SPECS 2030 initiative goals
The WHO-UPU partnership aligns closely with the WHO SPECS 2030 initiative, launched in May 2024, which aims to help countries scale up access to eye care in a sustainable way. One of the most pressing needs addressed by the initiative is presbyopia – an age-related condition that affects near vision and can be easily corrected with low-cost reading glasses. More than 800 million people worldwide suffer from presbyopia, yet many lack access to basic corrective eyeglasses. WHO and UPU will collaborate to develop, pilot, and evaluate delivery models that use postal networks to bridge this gap, in line with SPECS 2030's five strategic pillars: Service design, Personnel development, public Education, Costing, and Surveillance and research.
This project also forms part of the UPU's Post4Health initiative, which builds on the special role of postal networks in integrating public health logistics and community outreach. It demonstrates how these networks can serve as an effective channel not only for vision care, but for a wide range of health-related services worldwide.
The untapped potential of postal networks
With an estimated 680 000 post offices operating globally, postal services offer a unique opportunity to reach remote and underserved areas. India Post alone runs over 150 000 offices, forming the largest postal network in the world.
This vast infrastructure provides an unprecedented channel for distributing eyeglasses to communities where health services are insufficient. In many low-income countries, fewer than one in four people who need eyeglasses can obtain them – a disparity the WHO–UPU collaboration seeks to reduce. By harnessing the postal system's reach, the collaboration aims to create a scalable and sustainable model to improve vision care for millions of people.
First pilot project: India Post in the state of Assam
In collaboration with India Post, the state of Assam in India has been chosen as the site for the first pilot project aimed at evaluating the scalability of a model for delivering near vision spectacles. It will be implemented across five postal services in the state.
As part of the pilot, postal workers will be trained to perform simple vision screenings and provide low-cost, ready-made reading glasses to individuals with near vision impairment. Local outreach will be undertaken using public education efforts and neighbourhood events to inform and engage communities.
WHO and UPU plan to leverage the results from the pilot project to support the expansion in other countries, with the goal of reaching underserved populations globally.
"This collaboration is about reimagining how care reaches people – getting beyond regular health spaces and connecting with individuals in their own environments," Keel added.
