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New WCO president: Access to care a primary goal
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The World Council of Optometry pledged to work toward providing accessible eye care for all patients as well as advocating the relevance of optometrists in this process, according to the new WCO president at the April 21 general delegates meeting in Malaga, Spain.
Susan Cooper, OD, of Canada, in her presidential address, shared the WCO’s message: “The eye health and well-being of the public is paramount, and optometry is one of the key stakeholders in making this a reality.”
Throughout this process, optometry must remain “cohesive and organized,” Cooper said.
“If we advocate successfully, WCO should be able to influence at not only the global level, but also the regional and national levels. Over the next year your governing board will be working on a formal advocacy strategy that will assist us in becoming more effective in this area.”
Cooper noted that a written concept of optometry is available on the WCO website, which will help countries striving to recognize and regulate optometry.
“The optometric competencies developed by WCO a few years ago are being reviewed, and work is nearly complete on a curriculum support document for optometry programs that will be posted on our website,” she continued. “These will both be valuable tools to assist optometric educational institutions, both for new schools being established and current schools wishing to update and expand their scope.”
The WCO is growing and getting stronger, Cooper said; its relationships with the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness and the World Health Organization are well established and respected.
“With our dedicated WCO and World Optometry Foundation Governing Boards, combined with engaged and connected members and the dedicated and hardworking secretariat, we will continue to work toward our vision of a world where optometry makes high quality eye health and vision care accessible to all people,” Cooper concluded.
She takes over the 2-year presidential term from outgoing president Tone Garaas-Maudalen, from Norway.