Meeting of the Advisory group on the Global status report on eye care and vision impairment

Background

Globally, at least 2.2 billion people have a near or distance vision impairment. In at least 1 billion of these cases, vision impairment could have been prevented or is yet to be addressed. Of those with unaddressed vision impairment or blindness, 90% live in low- and middle-income countries. To confound this, the number of people with non-communicable eye conditions is expected to surge in the coming years due to demographic, behavioural and lifestyle trends.

It is clear that new strategies are needed to address the current and projected eye care needs. The strategic recommendations outlined in WHO’s first-ever World report on vision (2019) were successful in providing the foundation for a ‘new’ eye care agenda that focusses on: (i) Reorienting the model of care to strengthen eye care within primary health care;  (ii) Improving coordination of services within and across sectors and related health programmes; (iii) Integrating eye care into wider health plans and policies, and (iv) Presenting refractive error as an important public health agenda.

Significant progress has been made in the last 5 years to facilitate more effective integration of these recommendations, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Firstly, WHO, together with the eye care sector, has developed a comprehensive set of WHO global public health goods and the SPECS 2030 Initiative to support governments to effectively and sustainably address the huge unmet need for eye care. Secondly, there has been a series of political commitments, including the adoption of World Health Assembly (WHA) resolutions (2020 and 2025), the first-ever United Nations resolution (2021) and new global targets on eye care (2021).

Objectives of the meeting

1. Update the Advisory group on the progress of the Global status report.
2. Review and validate the proposed scope and structure of the Global status report.
3. Receive technical inputs on emerging trends, gaps, and priority case studies to be highlighted in the report.
4. Discuss strategies for effective dissemination and uptake by Member States and partners.

Format: In-person.

Dates: 4 September 2026.

Venue: Salle V, WHO headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland.

Language: The meeting will be conducted in English.

Participation: By invitation only.