PROJECTS1. Global Vision Database maps project and provision of data to the IAPB Vision Atlas
The VLEG has published the global, regional and country-level estimates for blindness and vision impairment every 5 years (2010, 2015, 2020) in the Lancet Global Health and other journals. For the 2020 estimates, the VLEG has worked closely with the GBD (supported by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) to update the GBD vision loss model, so that one set of estimates is published by that collaboration. |
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The VLEG and the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness conceived the concept of the Vision Atlas in 2016 as a means of disseminating to any internet user, country-specific prevalence data on blindness and vision impairment, by cause and gender for regions, including functionality to look at time trends. The renewed Vision Atlas in 2020 (following the original launch in 2017) uses data from the VLEG/GBD 2020 model.
2. Collaboration with the World Health Organization
VLEG data has been used by the World Health Organization as their core data source for their World Report on Vision which was published in October 2019. This was the first time the WHO had produced a World Report on Vision. Using VLEG data, it set a global framework for eye care for the next decade.
On 11 October 2022, VLEG and collaborators published baseline estimates for effective Refractive Error Coverage (eREC) in The Lancet Global Health – this marked an important milestone in the World Health Organization and partners’ efforts to propose inclusion of two indicators of eye care coverage (eREC and effective Cataract Surgical Coverage, eCSC) into those of Universal Health Coverage and ultimately the global indicator framework for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. These two indicators serve as ideal proxy indicators not only to track changes in the uptake and quality of eye care services at the global level, but also contribute to monitoring progress towards UHC in general. In 2021, the World Health Assembly set ambitious global eyecare targets for 2030 of a 30% increase in eCSC and a 40% increase in eREC. This data underpinned the WHO’s “Report of the 2030 targets on effective coverage of eye care”, launched at the United Nations New York building on 12th October, on the eve of World Sight Day 2022.
VLEG data has been used by the World Health Organization as their core data source for their World Report on Vision which was published in October 2019. This was the first time the WHO had produced a World Report on Vision. Using VLEG data, it set a global framework for eye care for the next decade.
On 11 October 2022, VLEG and collaborators published baseline estimates for effective Refractive Error Coverage (eREC) in The Lancet Global Health – this marked an important milestone in the World Health Organization and partners’ efforts to propose inclusion of two indicators of eye care coverage (eREC and effective Cataract Surgical Coverage, eCSC) into those of Universal Health Coverage and ultimately the global indicator framework for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. These two indicators serve as ideal proxy indicators not only to track changes in the uptake and quality of eye care services at the global level, but also contribute to monitoring progress towards UHC in general. In 2021, the World Health Assembly set ambitious global eyecare targets for 2030 of a 30% increase in eCSC and a 40% increase in eREC. This data underpinned the WHO’s “Report of the 2030 targets on effective coverage of eye care”, launched at the United Nations New York building on 12th October, on the eve of World Sight Day 2022.
3. Maintaining and updating the Global Vision Database
The overall goal of the Global Vision Database (GVD) is to develop and deploy new and improved evidence on the prevalence of blindness and vision impairment and its causes, on intervention coverage, to inform and influence global priorities and programs.
The main purposes of GVD are to:
The overall goal of the Global Vision Database (GVD) is to develop and deploy new and improved evidence on the prevalence of blindness and vision impairment and its causes, on intervention coverage, to inform and influence global priorities and programs.
The main purposes of GVD are to:
- Provide estimates for the prevalence of blindness and vision impairment and risk factors globally and to make these accessible.
- Advise WHO and other international organizations on the most appropriate methods and assumptions for their global, regional and country level eye health epidemiological estimates
- Advise researchers and public health officials on the different issues involved in the estimation of cause-specific blindness and vision impairment
- Act as repository of high quality population-based studies of blindness and vision impairment data, in order to heighten accuracy of estimates and to securely preserve datasets into the future.
4. The EUROVISION project: Self-reported Vision and Hearing Impairment in Europe
Professor Rupert Bourne was awarded a Marie Curie Fellowship grant from the European Commission in 2018, with which to support Professor Nicolas Leveziel (University of Poitiers) in a collaborative project entitled “EUROVISION: Self-reported vision status and associated risk factors in Europe: prevalence and temporal change”. This project involved the analysis of data from more than 300,000 participants of the European Health Interview Survey. Working with colleagues in Eurostat, and other VLEG members the project team calculated prevalence rates of self-reported vision impairment and hearing impairment among this population-based sample of 28 European Union countries, and Iceland and Norway. The unique richness of the survey dataset also allowed the team to investigate factors relating to physical and mental health, lifestyle and socioeconomic status that were associated with vision and hearing impairment but also dual sensory impairment. This study offers valuable insights into the status of sensory impairment in the European population and heterogeneity within and between countries. The project team have been closely supported by the European Coalition on Vision.
Professor Rupert Bourne was awarded a Marie Curie Fellowship grant from the European Commission in 2018, with which to support Professor Nicolas Leveziel (University of Poitiers) in a collaborative project entitled “EUROVISION: Self-reported vision status and associated risk factors in Europe: prevalence and temporal change”. This project involved the analysis of data from more than 300,000 participants of the European Health Interview Survey. Working with colleagues in Eurostat, and other VLEG members the project team calculated prevalence rates of self-reported vision impairment and hearing impairment among this population-based sample of 28 European Union countries, and Iceland and Norway. The unique richness of the survey dataset also allowed the team to investigate factors relating to physical and mental health, lifestyle and socioeconomic status that were associated with vision and hearing impairment but also dual sensory impairment. This study offers valuable insights into the status of sensory impairment in the European population and heterogeneity within and between countries. The project team have been closely supported by the European Coalition on Vision.