A landmark United Nations resolution on assistive technology has placed Africa’s persistent access gap under fresh scrutiny, with governments facing pressure to expand access to spectacles, hearing aids, wheelchairs and other products essential to education, work and independent living.
The UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 80/305 on Access to Assistive Technology in September 2026, without a vote, marking the first UNGA resolution specifically dedicated to the issue. Sponsored by 41 member states, the resolution links access to affordable, quality assistive technology to universal health coverage and sustainable development.
The move comes amid a vast global access gap.The WHO-UNICEF Global Report on Assistive Technology estimates that more than 2.5 billion people worldwide need at least one assistive product, while nearly one billion people who need such products cannot access them. In some low-income settings, services meet as little as three per cent of estimated need.
The products range from spectacles and hearing aids to wheelchairs, prostheses and communication devices. Their impact extends beyond healthcare, determining whether people can attend school, work, move independently and participate in economic and social life.
For Africa, the challenge is particularly acute because of shortages of trained health workers, limited financing and the concentration of specialist services in major cities.
Eye care illustrates the problem
Workforce data from the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness show major disparities in the availability of optometrists between high-income regions and Sub-Saharan Africa. In many African countries, people outside major urban centres face limited access to basic eye examinations and corrective services.
That shortage can turn a relatively simple need for vision correction into a major barrier to education and work.
WHO-UNICEF data show the scale of vision-related demand within assistive technology. An estimated 31.3 per cent of the world’s population needed at least one assistive product when spectacles were included, compared with 11.3% when spectacles were excluded.
The figures do not mean that 31.3% of the world’s population needs glasses. Rather, they highlight the significant contribution of vision correction to the global demand for assistive technology.
For African economies, the consequences are not confined to health facilities.A child unable to see the classroom board can struggle academically. A worker with uncorrected vision can face safety and productivity challenges, while an older person unable to read medication instructions may become increasingly dependent on others.
The WHO estimates that the number of people requiring assistive technology could rise to 3.5 billion by 2050, driven partly by ageing populations and the growing burden of non-communicable diseases.
The UN resolution therefore puts the focus on how governments will finance and deliver assistive technology rather than simply recognising the need.
“The UN resolution is an important recognition that assistive technology is not a luxury or an optional service. In Africa, where access can depend heavily on location and affordability, it can determine whether people participate fully in education, work and everyday economic life,” said Bradley Heslop and Adam Boxer, Co-CEOs of Dot Glasses.
The two said implementation would be critical to closing the gap between policy commitments and services on the ground.
“The real test of this resolution will be implementation. Governments need systems that connect affordable products with trained personnel, reliable supply chains and community-level services so that people do not have to travel long distances or face financial barriers to receive basic support,” Heslop and Boxer said.
For African countries, one priority will be integrating assistive technology into national health systems instead of treating it solely as a disability or specialist programme.
The WHO framework identifies five interconnected elements needed to make assistive technology work: people, policy, products, provision and personnel.
For eye care, this could include expanding appropriately trained personnel to provide basic refraction services while strengthening referral systems for patients requiring specialist treatment.
Such an approach could help extend basic services beyond capital cities and major hospitals while allowing scarce specialists to concentrate on complex cases.
The adoption of Resolution 80/305 comes as the world marks World Sight Day on October 8, under the theme “Love Your Eyes”.
But for Africa, the challenge extends beyond awareness.The continent’s assistive-technology gap is increasingly linked to education, employment, productivity and social inclusion.
The UN resolution provides a new global policy framework, but its impact will depend on what governments do next—from allocating funding and training workers to improving procurement and extending services to underserved communities.
The real test of Resolution 80/305 will not be its adoption at the UN headquarters, but whether its commitments translate into affordable assistive technology for people in African classrooms, workplaces, markets and homes.
Vision is one window into a larger national test. Resolution 80/305 will be judged in budgets, procurement, trained workforces, functioning supply chains and services that reach people
before exclusion becomes normal. For a minister, that is policy. For an employer, productivity.
For a parent, learning. For a trader or rider, it may simply mean continuing to work safely and
independently. The resolution has established the direction. Governments must now make it visible in classrooms, workplaces, markets, roads and homes.
