Elevating Eye Health: IAPB Symposium at APAO 2024

From this year onwards IAPB Sout East Asia has planned to conduct a symposium on its sectoral strategy, 2030 In Sight, in all eye health-related global, regional, and national events conducted in the South East Asia region. In this process, APAO scientific committee allocated the slot for us to carry out the IAPB symposium in its mainstream on 25th February 2024. The purpose of this symposium was to make conversant to all eye health professionals, policy makers and those who work in the grassroots level of eye care service delivery on global resolutions and strategies on eye health its implementing process and monitoring mechanism. 

In this symposium, Peter Holland, IAPB CEO, presented IAPB’s role as an official partner of WHO on the prevention of blindness and its advocacy efforts to elevate eye health as a cross-cutting issue of the Sustainable Development Goals. Jude Stern presented on monitoring mechanism developed by IAPB to monitor the progress of 2030 In Sight Implementation. A case study of Laos, Nepal and Indonesia was also presented, Junu Shrestha presented on the IAPB advocacy tool kit and how to use it to advocate eye health at the national and sub-national level. In the symposium, I presented the regional progress and focus country updates on the implementation of 2030 In Sight. This kind of symposium will continue next year’s APAO to be held in Delhi India.