At the May 2025 Focus on Eye Health Summit, stakeholders from around the world gathered to explore forward-thinking strategies in vision care. With a spotlight on legislative wins and cross-sector cooperation, the event underscored how collaboration, not just innovation, drives policy changes that directly impact people living with sight-threatening conditions. The centerpiece was Canada’s newly passed National Strategy for Eyecare Act, an example of how thoughtful coordination can turn long-standing vision health gaps into national priorities.

Canada’s Vision Strategy: A Model of Unified Advocacy

Elisabeth Fowler, CEO of the Canadian Ophthalmological Society, provided background on the landmark legislation, Bill C-284, passed in November 2024. “Over 8 million Canadians live with eye disease, and 1.2 million experience vision loss and blindness,” she noted, citing a $32 billion annual economic toll. 

The bill mandates the creation of a comprehensive national strategy to improve:

• Care coordination, 
• Data collection, 
• Professional training, and 
• Access to treatments and assistive technologies.

Fowler emphasized the significance of bipartisan support: “All parties—Liberals, Conservatives, New Democrats, Greens, and Bloc Québécois—unanimously passed this bill, which is incredibly rare.” 

She credited MP Judy Sgro’s leadership and personal connection to vision loss for catalyzing the effort. The legislation gives Health Canada 18 months to produce an actionable framework, but the vision sector isn’t waiting: “We’re running parallel consultations to ensure the real needs of patients and providers are heard,” Fowler said.

Coalition in Action: No Egos, Shared Purpose

Jennifer Jones, President and CEO of Fighting Blindness Canada, described how multiple organizations aligned their strengths. Groups representing ophthalmologists, optometrists, opticians, and patient advocates formed a cohesive alliance. 

“We honored standing meetings, kept shared agendas, and committed to speaking with one voice,” Jones explained. When needed, they pooled budgets to hire policy experts and coordinated visits to Parliament Hill.

One powerful strategy was elevating patient voices. “At one Senate meeting, a person with lived experience had more impact than any of the national organizations,” Jones recalled. This authenticity helped frame eye care not as a luxury but as a necessity, bridging gaps in coverage for services like glasses and optometry, which are still inconsistently funded across Canadian provinces. 

Their coalition is now drafting an independent report to shape Health Canada’s implementation plan, with the hope it will “truly reflect community needs without bureaucratic constraints.”

Real-World Impact and Lessons for the U.S.

Both Fowler and Jones stressed that the strategy is more than a policy win—it’s a lifeline for patients. By addressing inequities in diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation, it aims to reduce preventable vision loss. 

“This bill gives us tools to identify what’s missing—be it coverage, access, or research—and fix it at a national level,” Fowler said. The U.S., meanwhile, continues to rally support for its own Early Detection of Vision Impairment for Children Act (EDVI), championed by Prevent Blindness.

Key advice for other nations? “Find your people, center the voices of those affected, and don’t let perfection stall progress,” said Jones. The Canadian coalition’s success shows that sustained, humble partnership can overcome fragmented systems and bring sight-saving policy to the forefront. The insights and momentum shared at the summit offer tangible strategies that can improve outcomes for people with eye diseases on both sides of the border.

*Prevent Blindness. (2025, May 15). 2025 Focus on Eye Health Summit Keynote: National Lessons in Eye Health Advocacy and Collaboration [Video file]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKfdBVKpf_c

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