(PRESS RELEASE) ST. LOUIS — The World Council of Optometry (WCO) Myopia Management Standard of Care Pledge challenge is setting a new goal after having reached an important milestone. Since the pledge challenge was launched last year, 130 global eye care organizations and 50,375 individuals have so far pledged to adopt myopia management as the standard of care. The organization, in partnership with myopia management category leader CooperVision, has set a new goal of 100,000 pledges.
Learn more and take the pledge here.
WCO President-elect Dr. Sandra Block said, “The response among optometrists, eye health researchers, contact lens marketers and optometry students worldwide to adopt myopia management as the global standard of care has been amazing. Individual and organizational pledges to date span 86 countries and all continents in the world. Taking the pledge sends a clear message that organizations and practitioners understand the seriousness of myopia as a public health threat and that they are taking active measures to manage that threat. We are delighted to see so many are responding to the challenge and encourage those who haven’t yet to take the pledge today.”
The World Council of Optometry introduced the myopia management standard of care resolution in April 2021, defining an evidence-based standard of care comprised of three main components:
- Mitigation — Optometrists educating and counseling parents and children, during early and regular eye exams, on lifestyle, dietary, and other factors to prevent or delay the onset of myopia.
- Measurement — Optometrists evaluating the status of a patient during regular comprehensive vision and eye health exams, such as measuring refractive error and axial length whenever possible.
- Management — Optometrists addressing patients’ needs of today by correcting myopia, while also providing evidence-based interventions (e.g., contact lenses, spectacles, pharmaceuticals) that slow the progression of myopia, for improved quality of life and better eye health today and into the future.
The World Council of Optometry has a myopia management online resource featuring the standard of care resolution, pledge signup page, multimedia resources and practical tools and information for optometrists available here.
About the World Council of Optometry
The World Council of Optometry (WCO) is an international membership-based non-profit organization for individual optometrists, industry professionals and optometric organizations that envisions a world where optometry makes high quality eye health and vision care accessible to all people. Its mission is to facilitate the development of optometry around the world and support optometrists in promoting eye health and vision care as a human right through advocacy, education, policy development and humanitarian outreach. To learn more, please visit www.worldoptometry.org or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.