Ensuring monitoring and surveillance of eye care

Eye care is important for the achievement of sustainable development goal 3 and the 13th General Programme of Work goals. Additionally, the Seventy-fourth World Health Assembly endorsed 2 new global targets for 2030 on effective coverage of eye care. To contribute to monitoring the progress towards the achievement of these goals and targets, WHO supports the integration of eye care into health information systems (HIS).

HIS are used to collect, standardize, code and manage information relevant to defined indicators. Such information is needed by (i) policy-makers to identify and respond to problems with evidence-based solutions, and to allocate resources effectively; (ii) planners to design more effective services, and managers to monitor and evaluate these services; and (iii) clinicians to provide high quality and evidence-based care. Thus, HIS underpin health and health-related decision-making in health policy, management and clinical care.

Even countries with well-developed HIS often do not include relevant data on eye conditions and vision impairment, their determinants, and health systems data related to eye care. Consequently, decision-makers at all levels of the health system may lack the information they need to identify problems and needs, to allocate resources optimally or to provide evidence-based services. This can result in a significant gap between what policy-makers, health workers and researchers know and what they need to know to improve the eye health of the population.

To address this challenge, WHO is developing technical tools to support the integration of eye care into HIS and into different data sources such as routine data from health facilities or population-based surveys.