Bangladesh Launches WHO Initiative to Boost Eye Care and Prevent Vision Loss

Bangladesh has taken a significant step towards enhancing eye care by formally launching the WHO SPECS 2030 Initiative. This program aims to make quality and affordable refractive error services more accessible and strengthen national efforts to prevent avoidable vision loss.

State Minister for Health and Family Welfare, MA Muhit, inaugurated the initiative, emphasizing a coordinated national plan. The goal is to unite various stakeholders, including the National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital (NIO&H), government health systems, professional bodies, NGOs, and other partners. This collaboration seeks to bolster essential services, addressing existing gaps in areas like cataract and diabetic retinopathy care.

The initiative aligns with the global SPECS 2030 target, launched by the WHO in 2024. It aims to support Bangladesh in achieving a 40 percentage point increase in effective refractive error coverage by 2030. This will be driven by improvements in service delivery, skilled personnel, public education, affordability, and robust data collection and research.

Data from a 2020 national survey highlights the need for this initiative, revealing a 48.6% prevalence of refractive errors (excluding presbyopia) in Bangladesh. However, spectacle coverage remains low at only 26%, indicating a substantial gap in addressing the population's visual needs.

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we do not want eye care to remain a collection of isolated activities. Rather, he said, through a coordinated national plan, they want to bring NIO&H, the government health system, professional bodies, NGOs and other partners together to strengthen and expand essential services – including cataract and diabetic retinopathy care – where gaps still remain.