A new WHO report released today presents estimates for effective coverage of refractive errors and cataract surgery which is is fundamental to increase global eye care coverage in the future while delivering quality services.
The Report of the 2030 targets on effective coverage of eye care serves as a reference point for Member States to commence monitoring progress towards the 2030 global targets. It also serves to highlight key gaps in current data and presents suggestions for additional efforts required to advance surveillance, policies and programmes for increasing the coverage of eye care interventions.
The Report was launched at an event at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, attended by ambassadors, policy and decision makers, WHO representatives, civil society and other organizations in the eye care sector.
Interventions that address the needs associated with uncorrected refractive error and unoperated cataract – the two leading causes of vision impairment globally – are among the most cost–effective of all health-care interventions to implement.
Given the large unmet need for care, the Seventy-fourth World Health Assembly in May 2021 endorsed two new global eye care targets for 2030 – namely, a 40% increase in effective coverage of refractive errors, and a 30% increase in effective coverage of cataract surgery.