Closing the instrument gap for the next generation of eye care.
A global needs assessment, an active grant programme, and a growing body of evidence — built by optometry students, for optometry students, across 13 countries and counting.
Where the initiative came from, and what it has found.
Equipping the Future is OPTOGLOBE’s flagship advocacy initiative, built around a single question: do optometry students actually have personal access to the instruments their training requires? The initiative launched in Owerri, Nigeria in November 2025, opening a global needs assessment.
That assessment found a consistent, striking gap. The major issue is a sharing problem in schools eliciting a need for personal access. The majority of surveyed students — 69% — own no personal diagnostic equipment. 59% receive none from their schools either. Awareness of financial support is just as thin: 87% didn’t know any grant scheme existed to help close the gap, even though 96% said they’d support one. The retinoscope came out as the single most-requested instrument across every country surveyed.
Since the launch, ETF has taken that evidence directly to the field — presenting at IAPB 2030 In Sight Live in Nairobi, running ground engagements and a trial lens set donation across Kenyan optometry schools, presenting at the Optometrists Association of Uganda Conference in Kampala, and reaching a continental audience at the AFCO/NOA Conference in Abuja. Alongside the advocacy, ETF is moving into direct action: physical instrument distribution to students, turning the data into real equipment in real hands.
About OPTOGLOBE
The Global Optometry Student Community.
OPTOGLOBE is a student-led international organisation founded on 7 April 2024. OPTOGLOBE exists to give optometry students across the globe, a collective voice on issues that shape their training and their profession’s future, with ETF standing as one of its most visible piece of evidence-led advocacy work.
About Optometry Giving Sight
ETF’s partner in closing the gap.
Optometry Giving Sight is a global fundraising initiative dedicated to eliminating uncorrected refractive error and closing the gap in access to eye care, particularly in underserved communities. It funds training, education, and infrastructure for optometric care in regions where it’s needed most. Optometry Giving Sight partners with OPTOGLOBE on Equipping the Future, supporting the initiative’s mission to close the instrument access gap for the next generation of eye care providers.
358 respondents. 13 countries. One clear gap.
Retinoscope: the single most-requested instrument across all 13 countries surveyed.
Explore the full needs assessment.
Personal instrument ownership, by region
Access & awareness
The survey is live. So is the data.
New responses update the tracker continuously as ETF’s global needs assessment grows. See where the gaps are widest, right now.
Open the Live TrackerWhere ETF has presented, so far.
ETF in Uganda, Nigeria, and Kenya.
ETF in the field.
Taking the Evidence to Kampala: OPTOGLOBE Presents ETF Findings at the OAU Conference
OPTOGLOBE’s delegation presented the ETF needs assessment data to strong interest and support from attendees.
Read the article →OPTOGLOBE Presents ETF Findings at the AFCO/NOA Conference in Abuja
The ETF poster reached a continental audience at the African Council of Optometry Annual General Meeting.
Read the article →ETF at IAPB Nairobi: Ground Engagements Across Kenya
From MMUST to KMTC, a look at how the needs assessment moved from data to donation on the ground.
Read the article →
Optometry Giving Sight
Equipping the Future is made possible through the continued partnership and support of Optometry Giving Sight, whose backing has directly enabled the global needs assessment and the instrument distribution.