Global Progress Towards Equitable Eye Care for All

Vision impairment affects more than 2.2 billion people worldwide, and at least 1 billion of these cases could have been prevented or have yet to be addressed. The burden falls most heavily on low- and middle-income settings, where gaps in eye health data and monitoring are also widest. The WHO World Report on Vision (2019) summarised progress under VISION 2020: The Right to Sight, demonstrating the value of coordinated global action and sustained progress monitoring. In 2021, governments endorsed the United Nations resolution on vision and committed at the World Health Assembly to the 2030 effective eye care coverage targets. Alongside 2030 In Sight, the sector strategy for eye health, and the WHO eye care programme of work, these commitments have galvanised the sector to strengthen the data, evidence and research needed to inform and monitor progress. The first Global Summit for Eye Health, in November 2026, makes this need all the more timely.This Research Topic aims to assemble a critical, comparative evidence base on global, regional and national progress towards the 2030 eye health targets, across eye conditions and areas of eye care. It will provide policymakers, funders and eye health planners with consolidated evidence to guide action towards 2030 and to inform the post-2030 agenda. We welcome empirical contributions showing where progress has been made, where gaps persist, and why. We equally welcome work examining methodological challenges across assessment approaches, from health facility and service-readiness assessments to Delphi-style expert-consensus methods, together with analyses of equity and geographic disparities in eye care coverage and of the role of digital tools and artificial intelligence in accelerating data collection.Suitable themes for manuscripts include, but are not limited to:• national and regional trends in effective cataract surgical coverage (eCSC), effective refractive error coverage (eREC) and other eye care indicators, including progress across specific eye conditions;• methodological advances and challenges in assessing national eye care progress: population-based surveys, service assessments such as ECSAT and RESAT, modelling, and Delphi or other key-informant methods;• development, validation and application of monitoring frameworks and tools for tracking progress and closing eye care data gaps;• digital health, telemedicine and artificial intelligence for accelerating eye care data collection and monitoring;• equity, gender and geographic disparities in access to and quality of eye care services;• strengthening eye health data and evidence ecosystems: mapping data needs across settings and levels, and identifying gaps in data, tools and standards;• use of progress data for planning, resource allocation and policy decisions, and the impact of doing so;• collaborations, partnerships and capacity development that enable countries to monitor progress;• alignment with global goals and initiatives, including the Sustainable Development Goals, the WHO Global Eye Health Research Agenda, and national commitments arising from the Global Summit for Eye Health and The Value of Vision. Topic editors: Mayinuer Yusufu, Anthea M Burnett, Mengtian Kang Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/85686/global-progress-towards-equitable-eye-care-for-all