Australia is among more than 60 countries and 150 eye health organisations calling on the United Nations to create a Special Envoy on Vision to serve as a global champion for vision and mobilise national action on eye health.
It is proposed the Special Envoy will serve as a global advocate and spokesperson, rallying governments to action. They will promote valuable strategic partnerships to achieve more, faster; they will raise global awareness of the importance of eye health, and they will accelerate the international community’s implementation of the UN resolution on vision.
Sixty-three countries have written to UN Secretary-General António Guterres calling on him to create a Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Vision.
The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) said the Special Envoy would build on the significant momentum developed around eye health over the past three years and enable a global advocate to lead the implementation of the 2021 UN General Assembly resolution on ‘Vision for Everyone’, coordinating with relevant UN agencies, including the World Health Organization, and mobilising action at the national level.
“This is an opportunity to ensure all people around the world have equitable access to eye health and to tackle a development issue which can be solved this decade,” the letter, from countries including Nigeria, India, United Kingdom, China as well as Antigua and Barbuda, Bangladesh, Ireland, Brazil, Ghana, Australia and others, states.
To coincide with the letter from UN member states, over 150 CEOs and leaders of eye health organisations around the world have also written to the Secretary-General to support the establishment of a Special Envoy on Vision.
Their letter, co-ordinated by the IAPB, and signed by organisations including professional bodies, corporate sector, and non-government organisations, said opportunities to spark generational-level change are rare.
“It requires the right global commitment, strong government and community support, a clear pathway forward, and the right leadership to guide the way. For vision, that moment has arrived,” their letter said.
Dr Walton Webson, the permanent representative of the mission of Antigua and Barbuda, and founder/co-chair of the UN Friends of Vision Group, said the July 2021 adoption of UNGA resolution, ‘Vision for Everyone: accelerating action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals’, was a watershed moment for global efforts to improve vision.
“In that resolution Governments recognised vision as foundational to human development. With this call for a Special Envoy on Vision countries are once again stating the importance in eye health in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.”
IAPB chief executive Mr Peter Holland pointed out that at least 2.2 billion people globally have a vision impairment, or blindness, which equates to more than a quarter of humanity.
“Of those, more than one billion live with sight loss due to a lack of services. Population growth, an ageing population and increased urbanisation only make the problem worse,” he said.
“The Special Envoy would crucially serve as a global champion for vision to mobilise national action on eye health ensuring everyone has accessible, available and affordable eye health services is a global development challenge which can be solved by 2030.”
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