World Optometry Day highlights not only optometry as a health care profession, but the contribution of the profession in supporting access to eye health care as a human right. This year, the World Council of Optometry (WCO) will celebrate World Optometry Week from March 19 – 25, and specifically World Optometry Day, Thursday, March 23, with the theme “Expanding Optometry’s Role… The Time is Now!”

WCO President, Associate Professor Peter Hendicott, said, “World Optometry Day provides an opportunity for optometry to reflect on its current and possible future roles in expanding access to quality and equitable eye care. This calls for optometry to consider our responsibilities and potential roles within health care delivery systems, to identify how we can make a maximal contribution to reducing the burden of eye disease and its impact. We need to ensure that optometrists worldwide possess the necessary skills, knowledge, and competencies to effectively move our profession forward to better serve our communities.”

With the theme “Expanding Optometry’s Role… The Time is Now!”, WCO seeks to advocate for stronger global access to eye care and ensure that optometrists around the globe have the education and skills to thrive and contribute within their respective healthcare systems. Recent resolutions of the World Health Assembly and United Nations have adopted eye care targets that are ambitious, yet certainly achievable, through a collaborative approach among all eyecare professions. To achieve improved eyecare worldwide, all optometrists and their representative organizations must work proactively with other eye care professions, along with government, to make eye care accessible, equitable, affordable, and effective… the time is now.