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Uncorrected refractive error named No. 1 global issue
LONDON – While optometrists are seen as the primary eye care providers in the United States, their role in public health across the globe can and should be expanded, according to several speakers here at the World Conference on Optometric Globalization. Uncorrected refractive error remains the top challenge for optometrists, they said.
“More than 300 million people [worldwide] need a simple pair of glasses to see clearly,” Rachel North, PhD, MSc, FCOptom, of the School of Optometry and Vision Sciences at Cardiff University in Wales, reported. Prof. North spoke about the role of Vision Aid Overseas, a U.K. charity that examines eyes of the needy, provides spectacles and trains locals in refraction and workshop skills in an effort to eliminate avoidable blindness.
Participants here talked about the dire need for refractive correction and comprehensive vision care on a world scale and the mission of Vision 2020 to eradicate avoidable blindness within the next 12 years.
Serge Resnikoff, MD, PhD, with the World Health Organization, discussed the need to better monitor the efforts of eye care across the globe.
 Serge Resnikoff |
“We moved from a situation of 38 million people blind in the early 1990s to now more than 300 million visually disabled. This is actually a success story,” he said.
Dr. Resnikoff said fewer people are going blind from eye diseases; many more diseases are being caught before causing blindness. The decline is due, in part, to the strengthening of eye care services in developing populations, as well as the growth of social security and health insurance in middle income countries, he said.
Still, in some countries rife with civil war and economic crises, eye care seems quite out of reach and has deteriorated, he said. “The biggest problem is on the African continent,” Dr. Resnikoff said. “Half of the problem is related to uncorrected refractive error.”
Dr. Resnikoff said WHO is working on better measuring progress of its efforts, to truly tell if people in dire need are being reached. “This is something that we should really try to do much more, and I really count on you to help us measure the actual impact on quality of life, not only through specific studies but more through surveillance and monitoring,” he told the audience.
Dr. Resnikoff said data collection needs to improve, including compilation of all existing surveys and additional data in selected areas.
 Rachel North |
“We are not in a position to really tell the rest of the world where we stand in terms of achieving our goals,” he said. “It takes years and a lot of resources to collect that information. There is an urgent need to find ways of having a better monitoring system.”
Still, good things are positive developments, including the recent change in the international definition of blindness and visual impairment, which now relies on actual visual acuity.
 Kovin S. Naidoo |
“Presenting visual acuity is becoming the gold standard of measurement and reporting internationally,” Dr. Resnikoff said.
Kovin S. Naidoo, OD, MPH, global program director of the International Center for Eye Care Education (ICEE) at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, said despite a surge in public health initiatives such as Vision 2020, bringing refractive services to the masses still remains a global challenge.
Prof. Naidoo said ICEE hopes to develop “a mass of optometrists in Africa to go out and provide services in an integrated system where they relate to other organs of health care and eye care.
“We realized we needed to develop regional schools of optometry in unserved regions of Africa,” he continued. “If we did that, we would increase the human resource capacity for eye care on the continent. The idea here is to make sure that the proper training and the appropriate posts are created before you start the whole process. You negotiate with governments to make sure this happens.”
For more information:
- Rachel North, PhD, MSc, FCOptom, can be reached at North@Cardiff.ac.uk.
- Serge Resnikoff, MD, PhD, can be reached at resnikoffs@who.int.
- Kovin S. Naidoo, OD MPH, BOptom, CAS, can be reached at k.naidoo@icee.org.