Global Eye Health, Epidemiology and Preventive Ophthalmology

Preventing avoidable blindness requires more than good clinics; it needs population data, smart screening, and policies that scale. This session brings together epidemiologists, clinicians, NGO leaders, and health-system planners to translate evidence into impact. We connect national surveys and RAAB studies to service design, show how cataract surgical coverage and effective refractive error coverage predict program success, and explain how registries and claims/EHR data expose inequities and bottlenecks. You’ll learn to choose indicators that matter, build referral networks from schools and workplaces, and sequence interventions for diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, AMD, and childhood myopia with clarity on cost and logistics. We emphasize models that work in remote and urban settings—vision centers, teleophthalmology triage, mobile teams, and public–private partnerships—plus procurement and supply planning that protects continuity of care. Global Eye Health, Epidemiology & Preventive Ophthalmology also addresses ethics, consent, and community trust, including disability-inclusive communication, multilingual materials, and caregiver engagement. If you are scanning the landscape for a high-signal Vision Conference, this page outlines the operational playbook: define catchment, forecast demand, align workforce, and track outcomes beyond acuity—contrast, functioning, and independence. We show how to deploy AI safely for opportunistic screening (fundus/OCT), design feedback loops for quality improvement, and build sustainability into fleets, cold chains, and data infrastructure. Finally, we link prevention to prosperity: safer roads and workplaces, more days in school, and fewer falls in older adults. Mastering ophthalmic epidemiology is the difference between inspiring pilots and lasting national programs.