#2020 vision centers full
#2020 vision centers series

Today, we provide a full range of clinic and hospital services It was founded in 1920 by the Sisters of Mercy to provide quality health care to the growing population of the region. Alexius Health Williston is a 25-bed critical access hospital located in Williston, North Dakota.

Alexius Health Williston Medical CenterĬHI St. It has created a major focus in the countries and districts where action is needed.CHI St. VISION 2020 has made a huge difference to global eye health. We face enormous challenges in avoiding vision impairment as the global population grows and ages, as services are often not available, accessible, acceptable, or affordable.Įye care services need integrated with the mainstream health system to form a core part of universal health coverage (UHC). It is encouraging that age-adjusted prevalence of blindness has reduced over the past 3 decades, yet due to population growth progress is not keeping pace with needs. Disparities due to socio-economic status, geography and gender remain. The Vision Loss Expert Group data showed that in 2020, an estimated 43 million people were blind, 295 million had MSVI, 257 million had mild VI, and 507 were VI from uncorrected presbyopia. Many eye health research studies, both intensive epidemiological surveys as well as Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness (RAAB) surveys were conducted over the past 20 years, increasing the quality of eye health data available for advocacy and planning purposes. By 2012, more than 100 national plans to achieve the elimination of avoidable blindness had been developed (Ackland, 2012). In the first five years, 53 countries drafted VISION 2020 National Plans and 78 formed VISION 2020 National Committees (Rao 2020). National plans and dataĬommitment to VISION 2020 was shown through the creation of national VISION 2020 committees and plans. These programmes have made elimination of these potential blinding conditions a possibility ( Rao 2020). Donation of medicines by Merck (Mectizan – ivermectin) and Pfizer (Zithromax – azithromycin) worth hundreds of millions of dollars for the elimination of onchocerciasis and trachoma respectively have been huge contributions. Through the efforts of IAPB, additional support was mobilised from the corporate sector, such as programmes focusing on elimination of onchocerciasis and trachoma. Many developed nations supported developing countries via the work of dynamic eye health NGOs and corporations from different countries. Various governments around the world have increased funding for prevention of blindness and eye care programmes. This goal has been exceeded – during the last two decades, funding for prevention of blindness and eye care multiplied several times, both through governmental and non-governmental sources. Funding mobilisationĪt the launch of VISION 2020, the goal was to double the NGO funding base. It has become the major annual public relations and advocacy event in eye health for eye care organisations around the world. World Sight Day became a part of IAPB in 2000. World Sight Day (WSD) is an annual day of awareness held on the second Thursday of October, to focus global attention on blindness and vision impairment. World Sight DayĪn important factor leading to success of VISION 2020 has been the advocacy work of many stakeholders, including during events such as World Sight Day. The long-term goal of both the GAP and VISION 2020 were the same – to reduce avoidable blindness and visual impairment. The most recent action plan “Universal Eye Health: A global action plan 2014 – 2019“ (GAP) was unanimously adopted by Member States at the World Health Assembly in 2013 as part of WHA resolution 66.4.Ī 2020 World Health Assembly resolution urges integrated people centred eye care to be embedded within the principal health agenda of UHC and to expand the scope of eye care into the mainstream as an integral issue for sustainable development. They also helped refine some of the implementation approaches. The last two resolutions were accompanied by WHO Action Plans which provided more detail on how the objectives were to be achieved. In addition, four World Health Assembly resolutions (2003, 2006, 20) reinforced the aim and objectives of VISION 2020. In 2006, VISION 2020 stakeholders developed an action plan for the period 2006-11, which extended the remit to focus not only upon the elimination of avoidable blindness, but to include visual impairment – particularly that caused by uncorrected refractive error.

#2020 vision centers series

The VISION 2020 Global Initiative was complemented and built upon by a series of additional plans over the years.