The Global Summit for Eye Health
Making the world see the value of vision
Summit Agenda – Coming Soon!
A growing global challenge
Over 2 billion people are living with poor sight and for over 1 billion of these people, this sight loss could have been avoided or treated. This represents a significant and rapidly growing public health challenge – but one that can be effectively addressed given that over 90% of sight loss cases are preventable or treatable through low-cost interventions such as glasses and cataract surgery.
An economic opportunity
Sight is foundational to economic and societal participation. It results in heathier workforces and higher productivity at work, better attendance and educational outcomes at schools as well as healthier and happier communities.
Our new research proves that if action was taken to reach the 1 billion people living with avoidable sight loss, the boost to the world economy would be $447 billion annually. It would result in 13 million extra years of schooling, 22 million more people employed, and 304 million people relieved of unpaid caregiving, predominantly women.
Unlocking potential
The Global Summit for Eye Health will convene senior leaders from government, private and public sectors, NGO’s and funding institutions to help reach the 1 billion people living with avoidable sight loss. The Summit will ask leaders to:
Act
- Commit to leadership and action from the highest levels of Government to embed eye health into health systems.
- Activate nationally owned eye health plans to deliver change and an integrated approach.
- Implement policy changes to address vision, recognising it as a whole-of-life issue that needs a holistic, whole-of-government approach.
Allocate
- Increase resources in eye health, recognising the return on investment that is possible both nationally and internationally.
- Explore innovative funding mechanisms and new ways to fund eye health.
- Foster partnerships with the private sector.
Accelerate
- Collaborate across the public and private sector and wider society to harness the educational and societal benefits of addressing poor sight.
- Implement the 6 accelerator interventions quickly and as a minimum and scale these up as progress is made.
- Harness technology and fast-track research and development in this area.
The Global Summit for Eye Health
The Global Summit for Eye Health is hosted by the Government of Antigua and Barbuda, in technical collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and supported by IAPB.
Five years on from the UN Resolution on Vision, the event will be an opportunity to secure a new wave of ambitious commitments and transform a shared vision into action.
“The Summit will focus on practical commitments that expand access to affordable, quality eye care services and strengthen health systems to meet rising demand.”
