OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation Joins Forces with World Health Organization to Advance Global Vision Care Under WHO SPECS 2030 Initiative

06 Dec 2024 12:30 CET

OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation Joins Forces with World Health Organization to Advance Global Vision Care Under WHO SPECS 2030 Initiative 

Paris, France and Geneva, Switzerland (6 December 2024) – The OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation is proud to announce its collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) as a global collaborating partner on the WHO’s SPECS 2030 initiative.

The SPECS initiative builds on the world’s first-ever global target to increase effective refractive error coverage by 40% by 2030, which was endorsed by WHO Member States in 2021 at the World Health Assembly.

This collaboration between WHO and the Foundation represents a significant step forward in addressing refractive error, preventing myopia, and improving access to vision care worldwide, particularly in low-resource settings.

The collaboration will focus on knowledge sharing, technical input, and data provision to scale impactful solutions and ensure the effective implementation of United Nations’ ‘Vision for Everyone’ resolution. By leveraging their respective expertise, WHO and the Foundation aim to make sustainable vision care accessible to millions, improving health outcomes and social inclusion.

Dr Jérôme Salomon, Assistant Director-General, Universal Health Coverage, Communicable and Noncommunicable Diseases, WHO, emphasized the importance of collaborative action in achieving global eye health targets: "Vision care is not just a health priority – it is a social and economic imperative. The SPECS 2030 initiative, which underpins the UN ‘Vision for Everyone’ resolution, reminds us that effective collaboration can amplify impact, delivering tangible results for communities worldwide."

The WHO SPECS 2030 initiative accelerates global eye health efforts by focusing on five key pillars: Services, improving access to refractive services; Personnel, building the capacity of eye care professionals; Education, promoting public awareness about eye health; Cost, reducing the cost of eyeglasses and services; and Surveillance, strengthening data collection and research.

Across these areas, the Foundation will provide technical input, share best practices, and contribute data to inform WHO’s initiatives in alignment with the global eye care target of effective refractive error coverage.

Anurag Hans, Head of Mission at EssilorLuxottica and President of the OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation, highlighted the transformative potential of the collaboration: “Uncorrected poor vision affects 2.7 billion people worldwide, posing a significant global challenge. As a result of the Foundation’s efforts, 961 million people in some of the most remote communities now have access to vision care services within a day’s travel, and 84 million pairs of eyeglasses have been provided to those in need. However, achieving the Foundation’s ambition of eliminating uncorrected poor vision in a generation will require collaborations that amplify impact. By uniting WHO’s leadership in public health with our expertise in delivering innovative, on-the-ground solutions, we believe we can create a multiplier effect to extend vision care to even the most underserved regions. Together, we have the power to transform lives and uplift entire communities.”

This collaboration reflects a shared commitment to improving lives through better vision and advancing progress toward Sustainable Development Goals, especially in health, education, and economic participation.

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