Stuart Keel1, Andreas Müller2, Sandra Block3, Rupert Bourne4, Matthew J Burton5, Somnath Chatterji6, Mingguang He7, Van C Lansingh8, Wanjiku Mathenge9, Silvio Mariotti2, Debbie Muirhead10, M Mansur Rabiu11, Thulasiraj D Ravilla12, Serge Resnikoff13, Juan Carlos Silva14, Ian Tapply15, Theo Vos16, Ningli Wang17, Alarcos Cieza2. 1. Department of Noncommunicable Diseases, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. Electronic address: keels@who.int. 2. Department of Noncommunicable Diseases, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. 3. Illinois College of Optometry, Chicago, IL, USA. 4. Cambridge University Hospitals, Cambridge, UK; Vision and Eye Research Institute, School of Medicine, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK. 5. International Centre for Eye Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK; Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, UK. 6. Data and Analytics Department, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. 7. State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yatsen University, Guangzhou, China; Centre for Eye Research Australia, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. 8. Retina Department, Instituto Mexicano de Oftalmología IAP, Santiago De Querétaro, Querétaro, Mexico; HelpMeSee, New York, NY, USA. 9. Rwanda International Institute of Ophthalmology, Kigali, Rwanda. 10. Nossal Institute for Global Health, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; The Fred Hollows Foundation, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. 11. Noor Dubai Foundation, Dubai Health Authority, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. 12. LAICO, Aravind Eye Care System, Madurai, India. 13. School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Brien Holden Vision Institute, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Organisation pour la Prévention de la Cécité, Paris, France. 14. Division of Blindness Prevention, Pan American Health Organization, Bogota, Colombia. 15. Cambridge University Hospitals, Cambridge, UK. 16. Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. 17. Beijing Institute of Ophthalmology, Beijing Tongren Eye Center, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China; Beijing Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences Key Laboratory, Beijing, China.
Abstract
The eye care sector is well positioned to contribute to the advancement of universal health coverage within countries. Given the large unmet need for care associated with cataract and refractive error, coupled with the fact that highly cost-effective interventions exist, we propose that effective cataract surgery coverage (eCSC) and effective refractive error coverage (eREC) serve as ideal indicators to track progress in the uptake and quality of eye care services at the global level, and to monitor progress towards universal health coverage in general. Global targets for 2030 for these two indicators were endorsed by WHO Member States at the 74th World Health Assembly in May, 2021. To develop consensus on the data requirements and methods of calculating eCSC and eREC, WHO convened a series of expert consultations to make recommendations for standardising the definitions and measurement approaches for eCSC and eREC and to identify areas in which future work is required.
The eye care sector is well positioned to contribute to the advancement of universal health coverage within countries. Given the large unmet need for care associated with cataract and refractive error, coupled with the fact that highly cost-effective interventions exist, we propose that effective cataract surgery coverage (eCSC) and effective refractive error coverage (eREC) serve as ideal indicators to track progress in the uptake and quality of eye care services at the global level, and to monitor progress towards universal health coverage in general. Global targets for 2030 for these two indicators were endorsed by WHO Member States at the 74th World Health Assembly in May, 2021. To develop consensus on the data requirements and methods of calculating eCSC and eREC, WHO convened a series of expert consultations to make recommendations for standardising the definitions and measurement approaches for eCSC and eREC and to identify areas in which future work is required.
Authors: Justine H Zhang; Jacqueline Ramke; Chan Ning Lee; Iris Gordon; Sare Safi; Gareth Lingham; Jennifer R Evans; Stuart Keel Journal: Vision (Basel) Date: 2022-06-20