New WHO Guidance Sets Global Standards to Improve Quality of Cataract Surgery

IAPB warmly welcomes the launch of the World Health Organization’s “Summary of Recommendations for Quality of Care in Cataract Surgery Management,” a timely and practical resource designed to strengthen the quality, safety, and effectiveness of cataract services globally.

Cataract remains a leading cause of vision impairment and blindness worldwide. While cataract surgery is widely recognised as one of the most cost-effective health interventions, outcomes continue to vary across settings. The new WHO guidance addresses this challenge by providing evidence-based, expert-driven recommendations spanning the full continuum of care from pre-operative assessment and preparation, through intra-operative management, to postoperative follow-up and outcomes monitoring.

Importantly, the guidance reinforces a critical shift in global eye health: moving beyond surgical volume alone toward effective coverage and quality outcomes. By emphasising infection prevention, surgical safety, diagnostics, patient counselling, and routine outcome monitoring, the recommendations provide a clear framework for improving and sustaining quality of care.

This guidance is particularly significant in the broader political and strategic context of global eye health. As countries and stakeholders prepare for high-level engagements, including the Global Summit for Eye Health, the recommendations offer a practical and credible foundation upon which governments, institutions, and providers can align their policies, programmes, and investments.

Expert-level normative guidance of this nature plays a vital role not only in achieving quality but also in maintaining and standardising quality across health systems. By supporting the adoption of more uniform standards within and across countries, the recommendations directly contribute to progress toward the Global Eye Health Targets, endorsed by countries at the World Health Assembly in 2021, namely, to achieve a 30 percentage point increase in effective cataract surgery coverage by 2030.

IAPB encourages governments, eye health organisations, and clinical leaders to actively integrate these recommendations into national planning and service delivery frameworks. The sector now has a valuable opportunity to commit collectively to implementing and upholding these standards, strengthening accountability and accelerating progress toward universal, high-quality eye care.

Find the document here.