It is estimated by the World Health Organization that about 1 billion people in the developing world would benefit immediately from distance vision and near vision correction if it were available to them. Here we address this problem and provide a solution by correcting vision in the field with adaptive liquid-filled variable focus lenses. We describe the details of the lens and present the results of a series of experiments performed in Ghana, Nepal, Malawi and South Africa that demonstrate that it is possible by simple means to self-determine and obtain correct refraction using such lenses.