The barriers to global eye care equity and the role of digital innovations

ABSTRACT

Vision plays a fundamentally critical role in every aspect of our lives, allowing us to perceive and interact with the world. Despite healthcare advancements in the modern world, a multitude of individuals, communities, and populations continue to experience insufficient access to adequate and affordable eye care. This subsequently leads to severe visual impairment and blindness, which could be prevented with proactive and timely diagnosis and treatment. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has acted as a catalyst for the rapid adoption of digital technologies. However, this digital transformation must not widen the pre-existing healthcare divide that exists across countries and individual population subgroups. Particular attention must be paid to the social determinants that contribute to healthcare inequity, including gender, location, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Novel digital solutions must be built with health equity frameworks in mind. Once in place, however, digital eye care services have the potential to increase access to care and remove barriers of time, expense, and distance.