A high-level advocacy and planning meeting having representation from prominent eye health leaders, organizations, and institutes, including World Health Organization and government ministries from the South-East Asia Region, was organized at the L V Prasad Eye Institute’s Banjara Hills campus in Hyderabad. Hosted by the L V Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) in collaboration with the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) - South-East Asia (SEA), the regional meeting was called - 2030-IN SIGHT – Implementing Integrated People-centred Eye Care in South-East Asia.
Globally, there are 1.1 billion people living with the consequences of sight loss because they do not have access to eye care services. These are some of the poorest and the most marginalised in society. Without change, this will double.
The meeting was a focused deliberation on implementing the new IAPB eye health sector strategy 2030 In Sight: Ending Avoidable Sight Loss by:
- ELEVATE vision as a fundamental, economic, social and development issue
- INTEGRATE eye health in wider health care systems
- ACTIVATE consumer and market change
The strategy builds on the findings of the World Health Organisation’s World Report on Vision (2019) and the first United Nations resolution on vision in 2021 - 'Vision for Everyone: Accelerating action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals'. The resolution explicitly links eye health to over half of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and calls on countries and the international community to reach these 1 billion people.
One of the core focus areas of the meeting was to discuss and deliberate on how eye health can be promoted as a development issue and embed it in the Sustainable Development Goals agenda. There were focused discussions on how Integrated People-centred Eye Care (IPEC) services can be implemented and awareness and demand for eye health services can be increased. The meeting concluded with recommendations and suggestive action plans for effective integration of eye health into mainstream health system along with development goals and a road map to achieve the target set of 2030.
'The meeting was a deliberation on translating the global resolution and commitment into national eye health policy and plan to ultimately reach the people who have vision impairment but do not have access to eye health services. Ensuring everyone has access to affordable-quality eye health services is a challenge that can be solved by the next decade, provided we all collectively work towards it. This will have huge benefits for the global economy, productivity, gender equity, inclusion, and education', said Dr Rohit C Khanna, Network Director, Public Health, L V Prasad Eye Institute. LVPEI is a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Prevention of Blindness.
'Founded in 1975, IAPB is the premier eye health body which brings together a unique network of members and membership bodies from across the world. The IAPB members in the South-East Asia region participated in the meeting. IAPB has initiated a new strategy - 2030 IN SIGHT that brings together the WHO World Report on Vision, the Lancet Global Health Commission on Global Eye Health and the landmark UN Resolution, Vision for Everyone. In the meeting, we had important discussions on the strategy to ensure that 2030 will be in sight for all', said Peter Holland, Chief Executive, The International Agency for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB).
Based on the World Health Organization (WHO) Report:
- An estimated 2.2 billion people are visually impaired globally, of which one third of these people with vision impairment are residing in in the South-East Asia region (SEAR)
- Without any intervention, this number will be doubled
- Uncorrected refractive error and unoperated cataract remain the leading causes of vision impairment in this region
- Due to population ageing, population growth, and changing lifestyle, the number of people with vision impairment globally and in the region is expected to increase
- Additionally, diabetic retinopathy (DR) is predicted to substantially increase as a leading cause of vision impairment in the region in the future
The World Health Organization report on Vision (2019) draws attention to the growing need for eye care and offers recommendations to improve eye care services worldwide. Its key proposal is for all countries to provide Integrated People-centred Eye Care (IPEC) services. IPEC means eye care services that are: People-centred, organised according to the health needs and expectations of people throughout the life course, rather than based on diseases. This approach consciously adopts individuals’ perspectives as participants and beneficiaries of eye care services and empowers them to play an active role in their own eye health.
About LVPEI: Established in 1987, L V Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI), a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Prevention of Blindness, is a comprehensive eye health facility. The Institute has ten functional arms to its areas of operations: Clinical Services, Education, Research, Vision Rehabilitation, Rural and Community Eye Health, Eye Banking, Advocacy and Policy Planning, Capacity Building, Innovation and Product Development. The LVPEI Eye Care Network has 260+ Centres spread across the states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Karnataka in India. The institute's mission is to provide equitable and quality eye care to all sections of society. The LVPEI’s five-tier ‘Eye Health Pyramid’ model covering all sections of society right from the villages to the city, provides high quality and comprehensive - prevention, curative and rehabilitation – eye care to all. It has served over 34.14 million (3 crore 41 lakh people), with more than 50% of them entirely free of cost, irrespective of the complexity of care needed.
About IAPB: The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness is the overarching alliance for the global eye health sector, with more than 150 organisations in over 100 countries working together for a world where everyone has universal access to eye care. IAPB believes in a world in which no one is needlessly visually impaired, where everyone has access to the best possible standard of eye health; and where those with irreparable vision loss achieve their full potential. The key priorities of IAPB are: global advocacy, connecting knowledge, leading global campaigns on eye health like the ‘Love your eyes’ campaign, and strengthening network with the eye health sector.