Report Includes Key Actions to Improve Global Vision Health, Empower Individuals, and Promote Stakeholder Coordination
According to the new “World Report on Vision” from the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 2.2 billion people around the world have a vision impairment, of whom at least 1 billion have a vision impairment that could have been prevented or is yet to be addressed. Prevent Blindness applauds the efforts of the World Health Organization and its partners for dedicating resources and coordinating efforts to address vision issues that impact all people. And, looks forward to continuing working with vision and public health leaders across the globe, and throughout the United States to expand on these efforts.
It is the mission of Prevent Blindness to “prevent blindness and preserve sight,” and we do so by educating the American public about conditions related to vision and eye health; advocating for public policy that advances vision and eye health; promoting early detection as a key to the prevention of vision loss and blindness; supporting public health research to identify the scope of vision problems across the U.S.; and developing resources that meet patient and caregiver needs. We are honored to be a part of a vision community working to elevate the recommendations of the World Report on Vision.
These recommendations include:
- Make eye care an integral part of universal health coverage.
- Implement integrated people-centered eye care in health systems.
- Promote high-quality implementation and health systems research complementing existing evidence for effective eye care interventions.
- Monitor trends and evaluate progress towards implementing integrated people-centered eye care.
- Raise awareness and engage and empower people and communities about eye care needs.
Working together, we can implement these key actions to realize the upstream health benefits of good vision and eye health. Benefits that, as the report states, would significantly impact individuals and society as a whole.
On July 15, 2020, the Prevent Blindness 9th Annual Focus on Eye Health National Summit will serve as one of 40 global launch sites for the World Report on Vision, where key authors of the report and stakeholders in vision and population health will have the chance to explore methods to realize the report priorities. To learn more about the Focus on Eye Health National Summit, go to https://www.advocacy.preventblindness.org/eyesummit.
