EssilorLuxottica and the World Council of Optometry (WCO) have partnered to raise awareness and understanding of presbyopia and the ageing eye, with the aim to establish standards of care for eyecare professionals to follow when managing the condition.
This initiative is also said to help eyecare professionals with the latest evidence-based scientific approaches, tools and resources focused on the three pillars of mitigation, measurement, and management of presbyopia.
Currently, there are an estimated 2.1 billion people worldwide with presbyopia. Due to the ageing population, this number is expected to reach four billion (approximately 40% of the world’s population) by 2050.
As part of the WCO and EssilorLuxottica partnership, the program will feature insights from several international experts in the field, to build the standard of care resolution and bring the latest research and evidence in easily accessible educational. To ensure accessibility, assets will be published on both the WCO microsite and EssilorLuxottica’s learning platform, Leonardo. Further updates on the available content and resources will be announced in the coming months.
WCO president, Dr Sandra Block, said: “We are excited to partner with EssilorLuxottica to bring the importance of addressing our patients’ needs to see well up close. There are many new options to address presbyopia, and we agree that it is important to bring the information to the eyecare practitioner so they can provide the best care for the patients.
“Along with helping to ensure evidence-based techniques are used, the partnership will highlight the eye health changes that are on-going as the patients grow older.”
Ms Olga Prenat, head of medical and professional affairs at EssilorLuxottica, said the company was thrilled to partner with the WCO, an organisation that shares its vision to contribute to better eye health and vision care for people everywhere.
“Through this important program, I am certain that we will raise the global conversation around presbyopia and together make an even greater impact by providing a standard of care to manage the condition, but also providing the resources and support needed to help eye care professionals improve patient outcomes,” she said.
As part of its long-standing efforts to advance knowledge and education on vision care globally, EssilorLuxottica has been partnering with WCO since 2015 at their first World Congress of Optometry and has since actively participated in all of the organisation’s congresses.
EssilorLuxottica has also supported other WCO global awareness initiatives including the Global State of Optometry Survey. The survey will include information on scope of practice, competency levels, demographics, optometric education requirements, and regulatory information.
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