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This roadmap is a plan which outlines a strategic course of transformative actions to guide the profession of optometry and the World Council of Optometry in the global strategy to prevent avoidable blindness globally by the year 2020. The roadmap identifies key priorities, leverage points, gaps and constraints, technical considerations and operational strategies to yield expected results within the profession and with partners in the IAPB and WHO initiative VISION 2020: The Right to Sight. Within this roadmap, development of roadmap teams and team leaders involves strategic planning and innovation to address a broad range of factors relating to blindness prevention. Steps taken can assist countries to address constraints for the provision of affordable and responsive vision care for the most vulnerable populations. The creators of this roadmap envision a pathway which engages optometrists and optometric leaders to collectively join forces with other professionals in facing the challenges of VISION 2020. One of the goals is to increase availability to quality vision care through the advancement of optometry.
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The roadmap encourages optometrists to reassess existing policies and practices for the prevention of blindness in their countries, and to identify new solutions and to participate fully in their design and implementation. By fully engaging optometry now and focusing on practical, solvable issues, progress can be rapid and better respond to country needs. While detailed work-plans and timelines must be individualized according to the situation and challenges of each country, this plan should help the decision-making process for them, and not impose one unique path. Priority setting, accessibility of available resources, the burden of blindness, the level of development of optometry, and the recognition of the profession uniquely establishes each country along this continuum. Universally, capacity building and institution strengthening activities are paramount to accomplish results.
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Overarching Goals
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To increase the percentage of people in countries who have access to primary eye care services
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To improve the quality of vision and eye care services
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To support the global target of the WHO Prevent Blindness and Deafness to ultimately reduce blindness prevalence to less than 0.5% in all countries, or less than 1% in any country
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Objectives
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Define the role for optometry specifically, in terms of demonstrated competency, and scope of practice through an international standard and country specific approach
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Survey the capacity to engage and identify programs: refractive error competency, low vision competency, recognition and referral of identified sight threatening conditions
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Increase capacity of optometrists to engage in Public health/Vision 2020 programs.
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Develop appropriate trainers in public health optometry
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Incorporate public health aspects of Vision 2020 into optometry education
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Incorporate public health knowledge, skills and workshops into professional optometric continuing education for individual practitioners, societies and associations
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Enhance optometric knowledge of vision 2020 at a global, regional and local level
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Empower optometrists to develop eye care programs that encompass the role of all eye care personnel
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Empower optometrists to interpret epidemiological data and apply the data to defined populations and thus determine the needs for eye care services, the appropriateness of existing services and the use thereof.
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Empower optometrists to identify Human Resource needs and develop strategies for the implementation of a human resource plan.
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Empower optometrists to be able to determine infrastructure needs and technology needs.
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Empower optometrists to contribute to the development of a National Plan and to ensure the role of the optometrists therein.
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Empower optometrists to understand the development imperatives our world and blindness prevention and optometric services are confronted with.
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Develop an understanding of the relationship between economic and other forms of development [Such as human DEVELOPMENT, CULTURAL development, technological development and social development] and blindness prevention.
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Develop an understanding of the relationship between economic costs of services to be offered
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Improve the awareness and responsiveness of the entire optometric profession to the needs of the poorest sections of our globe.
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Key Activities
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Develop a National Strategic Plan for Optometry
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Incorporate these ideas into the National Plan for Vision 2020 in the country
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Implement activities to support the National Plan of the country
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Implement activities that generate greater involvement by optometrists in Public Health and Vision 2020 activities
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Key Strategy
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Develop a Toolkit to empower optometrists to conduct Public Health and Blindness Prevention activities
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Incorporate in the Toolkit a practical guide to the implementation of activities supporting the Vision 2020 objectives
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