Optometry Australia (OA) has endorsed the World Council of Optometry (WCO) myopia management standard of care resolution. As part of its position statement, OA affirms the WCO resolution and supports a significant shift in clinical practice from merely correcting vision to employing strategies that slow myopia progression.  OA recognizes that eye care professionals should focus on assessing myopia risk and offering preventive counseling in addition to regular comprehensive examinations.

The World Council of Optometry partnered with CooperVision, a global leader in myopia management, to introduce the WCO myopia management standard of care resolution in April 2021, defining evidence-based standard of care as comprising 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, lifestyle changes) that slow the progression of myopia, for improved quality of life and better eye health today and into the future.

“Right now, 1 in 3 children in the world are myopic,¹ and that figure is expected to continue rising, so it’s more critical than ever that our global optometric community turn its focus toward this rapidly growing health concern,” said Dr. Sandra Block, President of the World Council of Optometry. “We thank Optometry Australia for their commitment to addressing this epidemic and reinforcing the importance of identifying and treating myopia using the three pillars of evidence-based practice. We look forward to other country’s optometric associations also adopting this as a standard of care.”

OA is the latest optometric association to endorse WCO’s myopia management standard of care resolution, joining the Canadian Association of Optometrists (CAO) in supporting this global initiative.

Visit the World Council of Optometry’s myopia management online resource featuring the standard of care pledge signup page, resolution, practical tools, and information for optometrists at https://myopia.worldcouncilofoptometry.info/. Explore the WCO CooperVision^® Myopia Management Navigator, a free online resource that provides a range of content, advice, and practical actions across the three M’s of myopia management by going to myopianavigator.info.

Click HERE for the press release.

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1. Liang, Jinghong, Yingqi Pu, Jiaqi Chen, Meiling Liu, et al. “Global prevalence, trend and projection of myopia in children and adolescents from 1990 to 2050: a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis.” British Journal of Ophthalmology, published August 14, 2024. https://bjo.bmj.com/content/early/2024/08/14/bjo-2024-325427.