REPORT ON CONSENSUS CONFERENCE PROMOTED IN 2015 BY WHO TOGETHER WITH IAPB AND THE NATIONAL CENTRE WAS PUBLISHED
More ophthalmological data, more collaboration between professionals, integrated rehabilitative paths to teach visually impaired people to see better. The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness-IAPB Italy and WHO have joined together to identify common standards for vision rehabilitation worldwide.
Even though today there are no internationally shared standards, specific steps are being taken towards this aim.
These issues were addressed in Rome – from 12th to 15th December 2015 – thanks to an International Conference promoted by the WHO and coordinated by the National Centre of Services and Research for the Prevention of Blindness and Rehabilitation of the Visually Impaired [[founded by IAPB Italy at the A. Gemelli Hospital in Rome, a WHO Collaborating Centre]], which saw experts from around the world participate in a four-day meeting, including ophthalmologists, epidemiologists, WHO regional managers, etc.
A Report was finally published that details the contents of this Consensus Conference in 2017. The Report reads:
This document is the outcome of a consultative process to elaborate international standards on vision rehabilitation. The process, which began in 2014, culminated in the International Consensus Conference on Vision rehabilitation […].
Among other things it reminds us that:
● a visually impaired person should follow a multidisciplinary rehabilitative path that is focused on the person, not merely on clinical aspects;
● vision rehabilitation should be commensurate to individual objectives and any risks that are to be assumed;
● it is necessary to have better collaboration and cooperation, as well as good communication, among all the professionals involved in the rehabilitative path;
● the lack of data at national level on the requirements related to vision rehabilitation demands the collection of new data to identify the needs of the population and ascertain whether these needs are being satisfied.
Report of Consensus Conference 2015
Main sources: WHO, IAPB