By the year 2020, the international eye care community hopes to have eliminated avoidable blindness as a public health problem. However there is still a big gap between what needs to be done and what is being done and Daniel Etya’ale, co-ordinator for VISION 2020 in Africa, estimates that currently hardly 20 per cent of the current needs in Africa are being met. On a more optimistic note, there has been a move towards closer and more functional partnerships between professional groups, governments, NGOs and industry.