World Sight day 2023
Supporting World Sight Day 2023 - https://www.iapb.org/world-sight-day/
ECV updates MEPs re 2021 and the year ahead!
New year letter from the President of the ECV. Read here
Celebrating World Sight Day 2020!
The EUROVISION paper has been published today to coincide with World Sight Day - click here to view the paper. Many congratulations to those involved in the project!
The ECV wrote to Members of the European Parliament updating them on progress, sharing results from the Eurovision project, and asking for support on World Sight Day. Read a copy here.
The Eurovision paper was also presented at an online live webinar with ECOO (European Council of Optometry and Optics) on the evening of 8 October 2020.
ECV member organisations shared messages throughout the day.
ECV tweeted the following:
European Coalition for Vision calls for an end to eye health and vision inequalities in Europe by the year 2030 – #Equaleyes #HopeInSight - #WorldSightDay 8 October 2020
Against expectations, 26% of Europeans report unmet need for optical correction, study finds. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aos.14643 #ECV calls for concerted action in all countries to address these inequalities. #WorldSightDay 2000 #HopeInSight
Burden of unmet eyecare needs fall unequally on women, older people, smokers and people living in social isolation https://bit.ly/2GCAW1r #ECV calls for 10 year programme of concerted action at country level to tackle these inequalities.
European Coalition for Vision urges people to attend for eye care services
The European Coalition for Vision (ECV) has written to Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and the chairs of key health EU and Commission committees to raise awareness about eye health issues following the pandemic. It called on MEPs to reassure citizens during the pandemic and encourage patients to seek help for eye and vision problems.
David Hewlett, President, European Coalition for Vision, also told MEPs that the coalition was still on course to promote several seminal publications on sight loss and self-reported eye and vision problems in Europe later this year. The communications are part of the 2020 Year of Vision initiative. These will include important new prevalence data for the UK.
ECV writes to all MEPs
ECV Chairman writes to all MEPs and EU Presidents alerting them to what the ECV will be doing in 2020 and to request their support. We will actively keep in touch with MEPs throughout the year.
World Braille Day
The #ECVEyeHealthEU is delighted to salute the work of Louis Braille and the World Blind Union, and to support World Braille Day on 4 January 2020
PRESS RELEASE: World Sight Day, 10 October 2019 – Putting Vision First
The European Coalition for Vision urges everyone in Europe to celebrate World Sight Day and put their Vision First! Regular eye examinations by a registered eye health professional (ophthalmologist, optometrist or optician) are vital for maintaining good sight and for revealing serious health issues.
There are over 30 million blind and partially sighted people Europe and 1 in 30 Europeans will experience sight loss. That’s about one in your school class. As the risks of blindness and visual impairment increase with age, 1 in 3 Europeans over 65 years old will face serious sight loss – a tenfold increase in risk. [1]
Many serious eye disease such as glaucoma and macular degeneration or diabetic eye disease, are preventable or treatable if identified early. Yet eye diseases are silent thieves of sight – by the time you notice, it is often too late.
Don’t fall for avoidable sight loss
The best way of spotting eye diseases early and avoiding visual impairment and blindness is an eye examination – usually funded or subsidised by your health insurance or national health or insurance system.
Eye tests should be taken at appropriate intervals as advised by a registered eye health professional.
It will also help your vision if you give up smoking, have a healthy diet and exercise.
Children should spend as much time as possible outsight in daylight but protect their eyes with sun hats, visors or good sunglasses if the sun is bright.
Book an eye test now
If you have not been for two years, book an appointment today by phone or email. Do not risk your sight. Put your and your family’s Vision First.
About the European Coalition for Vision
The European Coalition for Vision is an alliance of professional bodies, patient groups, European NGOs, disabled people's organisations, associations representing suppliers and research groups: www.ecvision.eu. We raise the profile of eye health and vision, help prevent avoidable visual impairment and secure an equal and inclusive society for those with irreversible blindness or low vision in Europe. The
Vision Atlas summary tells you more about the prevalence of eye health in your European country.
[1] Statistics courtesy of ECV member the European Blind Union www.euroblind.org/
EU NEWS
Over the summer the new European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, set out priorities for the 2019-2024 Commission
A European Green Deal
An economy that works for people
A Europe fit for the digital age
Protecting our European way of life
A stronger Europe in the world
European democracy.
She has also now unveiled the portfolios of the European Commissioner candidates (10 September 2019). There is little that is new, but several portfolios continue to be relevant to the work of the ECV
Stella Kyriakides (Cyprus) will be the new European Commissioner for Health
She has been asked to focus on the effective implementation of the Medical Devices Regulation to protect patients and ensure it addresses new and emerging challenges and to make the most of the potential of e-health to provide high-quality healthcare and reduce inequalities
Nicholas Schmitt (Luxemburg) will be the European Commissioner for Jobs
He will lead the work on implementing and updating the European Commission’s skills agenda, focusing on identifying and filling skills shortages and supporting reskilling
Mariya Gabriel (Bulgaria) will be European Commissioner for Innovation and Youth
Education and digital skills will be part of her portfolio, in addition to the European research agenda. She will also be responsible for promoting excellence and networking among universities
Sylvie Goulard (France) will be the new European Commissioner for Industrial Policy and the Digital Single Market
This will also include working on a coordinated European approach on Artificial Intelligence and helping SME scale up and expand including through better access to finance and appointing an SME Envoy
Margrethe Vestager (Denmark) will continue to be responsible for the Competition portfolio. She will also be Executive Vice-President-designate for a Europe fit for the Digital Age, co-leading the work on a new SME strategy with Sylvie Goulard.
In this role she will review European competition rules, including antitrust regulations, merger control, and State aid rules and guidance.
Before the new Commissioners can take office
the European Parliament will hold public hearings to assess their suitability (later this month/early October)
the Parliament will then vote on the full College of Commissioners (end October)
the new Commission will take office on 1 November 2019 for a five term.
With very many thanks to ECOO colleagues for supplying the above information. Any errors however are ours
Stella Kyriakidou - EU Health Commissioner designate. A psychologist by profession (qualified UK to masters level), she worked the Cyprus Ministry of Health in the department of Child and Adolescent psychiatry from 1976 and 2006 for. In 1999 she was appointed president of the First Breast Cancer Movement in Cyprus and President of the National Committee on Cancer Strategy in 2016. She was elected to the Cyprus House of Representatives (Nicosia District) for the conservative Democratic Rally in 2006.
2. ASNAV Campaign Présentation October 2018
ASNAV is the National Association for Sight Impairment and was founded in 1957. It is the only Association in France that includes all parties of the optical sector (including ophthalmologists, opticians, optometrists, lens makers and frame makers). The complete survey is available on ASNAV’s website www.asnav.org
The presentation held at the last ECVision meeting can be downloaded here:
World Sight Day 2019
ECV will be hosting a meeting in Brussels with ECOO and MedTech on 31 January 2019 for eye health stakeholders across Europe to discuss working together and plans for World Sight Day 2019. Ideally we want this workshop to form part of a wider communication strategy to raise the profile of eye health generally.
World Sight Day 2019 is Thursday 10th October
European Union ratified the Marrakesh Treaty
The WIPO-administered Marrakesh Treaty makes the production and international transfer of specially-adapted books for people with blindness or visual impairments easier. It does this by establishing a set of limitations and exceptions to traditional copyright law.
The Treaty was signed in Marrakesh on June 27, 2013, and came into force on September 30, 2016.
World Sight Day 2018 Leaflet
Eye Care Everywhere!
More than 60% of visual impairment in Europe is avoidable. Have your eyes checked regularly! Here are some useful facts to remember.
World Sight day 2018, Eye Care Everywhere!
World Sight Day, 11 Oct 2018, is an opportunity for the eye health community to come together. In the lead up to world sight day, we asked two European leaders from the NGO community “what would be the one big thing you would change in eye care in Europe?
It’s all about prevention, a view from David Hewlett
With an ageing global population, increasing levels of myopia amongst the urban young and large populations without access to elementary forms of eye care, these global challenges require global solutions. To achieve this, each World Health Organization Region must play its part.
In Europe, we still have a lack of public knowledge about eye health, vision and how to prevent impairment. Low levels of access to services for too many people, and the late presentation of issues, result in unacceptable levels of avoidable visual impairment.
Eye diseases are ‘hidden diseases’ and, without regular eye examinations, only manifest themselves to the sufferer at advanced stages. As ever, the key is prevention and early detection by eye health professionals. In our modern, tech-focused and high speed lives, good vision is imperative at all ages.
If there is one thing we would change about eye care in Europe today, it would be better public awareness of how to look after eyes and vision. Regular eye examinations with eye care professionals will enhance everyone’s quality of life now and for their whole lives.
Harmonisation for healthy eyes, a view from Fabienne Eckert
Tackling the growing burden of preventable sight loss in Europe warrants high-quality, common standards of eye care across the continent. Therefore, eye care in Europe would greatly benefit from further harmonisation of European optometric and optical education and clinical practice. The legal scope of practice of eye care professionals varies greatly from one country to the other, which means that the standards of vision care differ as well.
Historically, optometry schools across Europe developed professional criteria according to local principles and curricula. However, both patients and professionals increasingly move across-borders, either to seek professional care abroad or to offer services in another country. There is a growing need to ensure that patients can benefit from high-quality eye care wherever they go. We at ECOO are driving the change to meet this challenge. In order to do so, we developed the European Qualification in Optics and European Diploma in Optometry to stimulate uniform practice.
Much work is still to be done, and it is important that eye health is integrated in various other policy agendas, including the one for healthy ageing and road safety.
In sum
Prevention and harmonisation are two key areas that we call on European politicians to think about and act on in healthcare. We are delighted along with ECOO and ECV to be strongly supporting World Sight Day 2018 and its commitment to Eye Care Everywhere.