DAR ES SALAAM, Sept. 30 -- Global eye health experts have urged parents to prioritize eye testing for their children before the beginning of the new school term, as data from the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) shows that a simple eye test and glasses could help double a childs lifetime earnings.

The experts reported that uncorrected refractive error is the leading cause of vision impairment in children and accounts for a total of 27,178 years of lost schooling in Tanzania every year.

However, if the issue is identified at age five and corrected by wearing quality glasses through to age 18, data shows this could more than double (a 124 percent increase) the lifetime earnings of a child growing up in Tanzania....