WHO SPECS 2030

The WHO SPECS 2030 initiative is a global effort to ensure that everyone needing refractive error intervention has access to quality, affordable, and people-centered services.

Vision and Mission:

• Vision: A world where everyone in need of refractive error intervention has access to quality, affordable, and people-centered services.
• Mission: To support Member States in achieving the 2030 target endorsed by the Seventy-fourth World Health Assembly on effective refractive error coverage. This target aims to increase the percentage of people with access to appropriate spectacles (effective coverage of refractive error, or eREC) by 40 percentage points by 2030. For instance, if global coverage was 30% in 2020, the goal is to reach 70% by 2030.

The Problem: Uncorrected Refractive Error:

• Uncorrected refractive error is the leading cause of vision impairment in both children and adult populations worldwide.
• Globally, it’s estimated that only 36% of people with a distance vision impairment due to refractive error have access to appropriate spectacles.
• More than 800 million people suffer from near vision impairment (presbyopia) that could be corrected with reading spectacles.

Strategic Pillars (SPECS):

The initiative calls for coordinated global action among all stakeholders, focusing on five strategic pillars, aligned with the letters of “SPECS,” to address the key challenges to improving refractive error coverage:

• Services: Improve access to refractive services.
• Personnel: Build capacity of personnel to provide refractive services.
• Education: Improve population education regarding refractive error.
• Cost: Reduce the cost of refractive error services.
• Surveillance: Strengthen surveillance and research related to refractive error.