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Eye care in health systems: guide for action (WHO)

Eye care in health systems: guide for action (WHO)
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The Guide outlines strategies and approaches proposed by WHO that provide practical, step-by-step support to Member States in the planning and implementation of integrated people-centred eye care (IPEC).

Eye care in health systems – guide for action (the Guide) was developed as a manual for health planners. The Guide outlines strategies and approaches proposed by WHO that provide practical, step-by-step support to Member States in the planning and implementation of integrated people-centred eye care (IPEC). Planning periods covered in the Guide include those that are short-term (annual operational planning), as well as mid- to longer term (eye care strategic plans).

The primary audiences for Eye care in health systems: guide for action (the Guide) are governments of low- and middle-income countries and the agencies working with them to provide eye care to the people in need. It is designed for use at national level but can also be used at subnational level.

The Guide aims to be a practical resource for countries to analyse, plan, implement and review integrated people-centred eye care (IPEC). More specifically, it outlines recommended activities towards the development of:

  1. an eye care strategic plan that outlines priorities;
  2. a monitoring framework linked to the eye care strategic plan; and
  3. one or multiple operational plans outlining actions in support of the implementation of the eye care strategic

The Guide currently links four resources, or tools, developed by WHO (Figure 1), to support countries in their development of the plans and frameworks described above. The Guide was designed to be a dynamic resource, allowing the inclusion of additional tools at any time to facilitate the analysis, planning, implementation and review of IPEC in countries.

You can access the Guide at this link. It is available in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese, with Chinese, Arabic and Russian translations to follow in 2023.

The Guide further describes and links the following four new tools developed by WHO to support country planning:

  1. Eye Care Situation Analysis Tool (ECSAT) Purpose: Questionnaire based survey tool to comprehensively assess eye care in a country.
  2. Eye Care Indicator Menu (ECIM) Purpose: List of recommended eye care indicators to be collected regularly.
  3. Package of Eye Care Interventions (PECI) Purpose: Planning and budgeting for eye care at each level of the health system.
  4. Eye Care Competency Framework (ECCF) Purpose: Planning tool for eye care human resources based on competencies.