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IAPB eye health technology guide

Recommendations & tools to consider technology that enables access to and uptake of eye care services

Dr Nor Fariza Ngah, Ministry of Health, Malaysia: “There is no doubt that technology plays a critical role in eye health now, and long into the future. That is why it is so wonderful to have a guide that helps introduce technology in an informed way, to best contribute to achieving eye health that is available, accessible, and affordable to all.

The IAPB Technology Special Interest Group is a community of IAPB members and professionals working in eye health who share a common interest in the use of technology to improve eye health.

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About the guide

IAPB and the Technology Taskforce have developed a guide that aims to help you better understand and critically analyse eye care technology used at the community and primary levels of eye care.

The guide will help you engage with and adopt technology in your work and:

  • learn more about established technologies for eye health
  • define how technology can enable access to eye care
  • understand the stage of development of emerging technology
  • consider how to appropriately introduce new technology into eye care services.

Please use the guide to consider how you can use technology to provide integrated people-centred eye care and access to underserved populations.

Technological solutions are one of the tools we need to use to ensure that the underserved have access to the services they need (Burton et al., 2021).

Technology will be part of the future of eye health, so we need to ensure that it is developed and implemented in appropriate ways.

Thoughtful application is needed to maximise the potential of technology to improve coverage, accessibility, effectiveness, efficiency, and affordability of eye health services.

 

Reference: Burton, M.J., Ramke, J., Marques, A.P., Bourne, R.R., Congdon, N., Jones, I., Tong, B.A.A., Arunga, S., Bachani, D., Bascaran, C. and Bastawrous, A., 2021. The Lancet global health Commission on global eye health: vision beyond 2020. The Lancet Global Health, 9(4), pp.e489-e551.

The guide is primarily designed for eyecare provider organisations and governments, those responsible for purchasing and implementing technology for service delivery.

It is also designed to be useful for policy makers, funders, and innovators and manufacturers of emerging eye health technology.

We welcome your feedback, please contact [email protected] with comments and suggestions.

Our sincere thanks to these members of the IAPB Technology Taskforce for driving the development of this guide:

  • Dr Shivang R Dave, PlenOptika
  • Amanda Davis, Fred Hollows Foundation, IAPB Western Pacific Chair
  • Rathinam Thyagarajan, LV Prasad Eye Institute

Shivang Dave, Amanda Davis and Rathinam Thyagarajan
We would like also thank the following individuals for their guidance and expertise:

  • Prof Andrew Bastawrous, Peek Vision & London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
  • Stephane Wolf, Novartis
  • Dr Aaron Magava, IAPB Africa Chair
  • Dr Nor Fariza Ngah, Ministry of Health, Malaysia
  • Dr Suzanne Gilbert, IAPB North America Chair, Seva Foundation
  • Dr Petri Huhtinen, Optomed
  • Dr Kunal Parikh, Johns Hopkins University
  • Dr Daniel Ting, Singapore National Eye Centre
  • Michael Morton, IAPB
  • Jude Stern, IAPB

More comments about the guide:

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Amanda Davis, IAPB Western Pacific Chair, Fred Hollows Foundation:

“Rapidly changing technology has created a new set of challenges in the eye care sector, but it also has unlocked solutions. The IAPB Eye Health Technology Guide presents a practical tool that has been developed to allow for each unique country context. It provides the user with a clear pathway to make guided, informed and appropriate choices in an environment that is often complex and fast-moving.

Dr Aaron Magava, IAPB Africa Chair:

“We know that the pace of change will not slow down. Nor will the complex factors that influence eye health. I am proud that the IAPB Eye Health Technology Guide helps organisations from all regions and budgets, keep informed about the latest tech that will provide the most benefit to their programmes, patients, or research projects.”

Dr Shivang R Dave, PlenOptika:

“It is fantastic to see this guide released into the sector. Innovative technologies and health delivery models have a critical role in cost-effectively scaling up eye health programs to drive sustainable real-world impact. Use the IAPB Eye Health Technology Guide to develop high impact, high-quality initiatives.”