Join a powerful, unprecedented alliance for better eye health for all.
Join IAPB-
Choose an alternate language here
WHO has unveiled a landmark reform that targets primary care for billions of people. This “back-to-basics” targets one billion people in support of WHO’s top priority, Universal Health Coverage(UHC). At the same time, a Resolution on Community Health Workers is to be considered at the upcoming World Health Assembly to accelerate progress on UHC and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) health targets, recognizing the importance of community health workers as part of a diverse and sustainable health workforce skills mix. “Promotive, preventive, curative, rehabilitative services and palliative care must be accessible to all – We can no longer underemphasize the crucial importance of health promotion and disease prevention, nor tolerate fragmented, unsafe or poor-quality care. We must address the shortage and uneven distribution of health workers”.
Meanwhile, Africa continues the march towards UHC ahead of the UN High-Level Meeting on UHC in September with Jean Kagubare, deputy director of Global Primary Health Care Systems at the Gates Foundation, stating “there is no better return on investment than strengthening primary health care.”
Closer to home, in eye health, the integration of an eye health component into primary health care (more commonly PEC into PHC) took a major step forward in March when WHO AFRO and IAPB Africa jointly launched the new Primary Eye Care Training Manual at a key event in Ghana. With 16 Anglophone countries represented, along with the IAPB team and many member agencies, the launch took forward the PEC agenda following the publication of WHO AFRO’s PEC Training Manual towards the end of last year. The expectation now is that individual countries will build on this momentum and alignment and implement the recommendations of WHO and IAPB, moving PEC forward as part and parcel of the broader switch to primary health care in pursuit of Universal eye Health Coverage (UeHC).
Finally, in February, IAPB Africa held its annual planning meeting in Accra where the secretariat, members and partner organizations developed a draft implementation plan to tackle key issues facing eye health in Africa. The plan will outline the roles to be undertaken by both the secretariat and members during the period 2019-2021.
Image: Two eye health workers are taking the visual acuity of two patients at the same time/ Image Credit: Francisco Sanz for #MakeVisionCount
Inclusiveness and Health Equity for Persons with Disabilities
The WHO Vision and eye screening implementation handbook (VESIH) offers a step-by-step guidance for conducting vision and eye screenings in community and primary care settings.
This key report sheds light on the often-overlooked supply-side barriers that prevent many in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) from obtaining affordable, quality glasses.
L’OCCITANE en Provence has always put people at the heart of its operation. For more than 20 years, it has been committed to Caring for Sight, supporting projects around the world that help prevent blindness.
The 2023 Annual Report of CBM's eye care work across its programmes. Inclusive, comprehensive and integrated- CBM's Eye Health Initiative reports on it latest work in eye health.
This guidance aims to facilitate the monitoring of both eye and ear care services through presenting a set of core facility indicators along with considerations for analysis and use of routine health information
The International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) have collaborated to produce a report on Eye Health and the World of Work
This report was authored by the Deloitte Center for Health Economics working with Roche and IAPB
ROP related blindness can be prevented by improving comprehensive preterm care and screening at appropriate time.
Exploring the Impact of Environmental Conditions on the Ocular Surface - A Review of Risk Factors
This PDF document from IAPB's Climate Action Work Group debunks five prevalent myths about climate action and eye care.
Interventions To Slow The Progression Of Myopia
