World Council of Optometry joins WHO initiative to reduce uncorrected refractive error
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NEW ORLEANS — The World Council of Optometry has teamed up with WHO to support SPECS 2030, a global effort to increase access to refractive error services.
“Uncorrected refractive error is our heart and soul,” WCO President Sandra S. Block, OD, MEd, MPH, FAAO, FCOVD, FNAP, told Healio at Academy ’23. “And WCO is the only optometry organization to have a seat at the table with WHO.”
The goal of the SPECS initiative is to achieve a 40% increase in effective global coverage of refractive error by 2030, Block, also professor emeritus at Illinois College of Optometry, said.
The WHO website lists five strategic pillars for SPECS:
- improve access to refractive Services;
- build capacity of Personnel to provide refractive services;
- improve population Education;
- reduce the Cost of refractive services; and
- strengthen Surveillance and research.
“WCO’s mission is to address vision impairment worldwide and make sure we keep it under control,” Block continued. “We want to make sure the bigger picture moves forward, and it’s not giving out glasses.”
That means creating a standard of care that goes beyond refractive error correction. “We think more about the long-term complications,” she said. “We need to know who’s at risk and how we can slow the progression or stop it before it even starts.”
WCO works with CooperVision on its myopia management program, which includes webinars, research translations and practice tools, Block said.
The group is also working with Alcon on a dry eye education initiative, which includes the WCO Alcon Dry Eye Wheel.
“It walks you through what to do with dry eye patients in your chair,” she said.
With its focus on preventable vision impairment, WHO recently developed a document highlighting competencies required to deliver eye care services.
“We made sure optometry was included at the highest scope,” Block said. “Our goal is to represent optometry, make sure we’re part of the continuum of care ... and make sure the competency document reflects our autonomous profession.”
Finally, WCO’s Take the Pledge initiative, “goes back to the standard of care we wrote 3 years ago,” she said. “We now have 56,000 who have pledged to think about all the ways you can slow the progression of myopia and highlight risk factors and benefits. Our goal is to increase it to 100,000. And that’s a minimum. We want everybody to address myopia as a disease entity and not merely an optical program.”
References:
- Eye care competency framework. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240048416. Published May 20, 2022. Accessed Oct. 10, 2023.
- SPECS 2030. https://www.who.int/initiatives/specs-2030. Accessed Oct. 10, 2023.
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