Dear HIFA colleagues,
I’m responding to Q 5. What international guidance is available from WHO and other international bodies? How is national policy developed and implemented?
WHO recently developed an International Guidance document which emphasises policies and planning to improve the quality of eye care services. It is a standardized, evidence-based guideline for cataract surgery care and management. HelpMeSee was among several organisations in this WHO international consultation.
Although the WHO recommendations include ‘history taking by the health provider’, I couldn’t find any mention of an emphasis on patients' access to reliable Eye Care information for prevention, reducing delays in seeking care, perioperative care, and home care post-cataract surgical procedure.
Access to reliable cataract treatment information is particularly important in LMICs, which can help avoid harm and socio-economic impacts.
Through this timely HIFA-HelpMeSee global discussion, HIFA members have the opportunity to highlight this gap in universal access to healthcare Information to prevent disability (blindness) and improve patient safety in cataract surgical services.
Since the WHO guidelines were published in 2026, I’m not sure if HIFA-HelpMeSee can suggest this to the WHO, as per their message below in the WHO publication Summary of recommendations for quality of care in cataract surgery management (Page 15).
The WHO Vision and Eye Care Programme will regularly review WHO’s current portfolio of cataract surgery recommendations. In the event that new evidence that could potentially impact the current evidence base is identified, these recommendations may be updated. If no new reports or information is identified the recommendations may be revalidated. WHO welcomes suggestions regarding additional questions for inclusion in the updated recommendations. Please email your suggestions to vision@who.int
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240121089
Best wishes
Dr. Meena Nathan Cherian, MBBS, MD (Anaesthesia)
(Former WHO Lead Emergency and Essential Surgical Care Program, Geneva, Switzerland).
Director, Global Health New Challenges: Geneva Foundation for Medical Education & Research, Switzerland. www.gfmer.ch/surgery/cancer.htm (NSA-WHO)
Senior Advisor Global Action International Society of Geriatric Oncology Permanent Committees - SIOG
Senior Advisor, International College of Surgeons-Global Affairs. https://icsglobal.org/ (NSA-WHO)
Adjunct Prof.The Chinese University of Hong Kong,Shenzhen,China. https://med.cuhk.edu.cn/en/teacher/371
WHO-HIFA Essential Health Services; mHEALTH-INNOVATE. www.hifa.org (NSA-WHO).
Geneva, Switzerland. +41 763837253(m); cherianm15@gmail.com
HIFA profile: Dr Meena Nathan Cherian was a professor of anaesthesiology from Christian Medical College Hospital, Vellore, India. She trained, worked, and taught in several countries, USA (Johns Hopkins Hospital), Southeast Asia and Africa. She worked at the World Health Organization Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland, as the Emergency and Essential Surgical Care Program Lead where she created the ‘surgical care’ program resulting in the first World Health Assembly Resolution on ‘Emergency and Essential Surgical Care and Anaesthesia in the context of Universal Health Coverage’. Currently she works as the Director, Global Health New Challenges program, Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research, Geneva, Switzerland; Adjunct Prof. The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China; Senior Advisor, Global Action, International Society of Geriatric Oncology, Switzerland; Member of the WHO-HIFA Working Group on Essential Health Services and COVID-19; and HIFA mHEALTH-INNOVATE Working Group. She is a member of the HIFA Steering Group. https://www.hifa.org/support/members/meena and Spotlight working group on Patient Safety and NCDs. cherianm15 AT gmail.com