Developing Bhutan eye health strategy

Background

Eye health and vision profoundly influence individual well-being, productivity, educational attainment, and national development. In November 2020, at the Seventy-third World Health Assembly, World Health Organization (WHO) Member States adopted the resolution HA73.4, “Integrated people-centred eye care, including preventable vision impairment and blindness”, endorsing integrated people-centred eye care (IPEC) and committing to eliminate avoidable vision impairment. This resolution requested WHO, in consultation with Member States, to prepare recommendations on global targets for effective coverage of eye care. To this end, WHO undertook a consultative process with Member States and experts from the field to develop the global targets that were endorsed in May 2021 at the Seventy-fourth World Health Assembly. Specifically, the two global eye care targets are:

• a 30-percentage point increase in effective cataract surgery coverage (eCSC), and
• a 40-percentage point increase in effective refractive error coverage (eREC) by 2030.

Bhutan has provided utmost importance to improve the eye care services in line with the Bhutan eye health strategy, which expired in 2024.  The eye health strategy is fundamental to guide the national eye care services. Bhutan has conducted:

• a Rapid assessment of avoidable blindness (RAAB) survey, completed in 2018;
• a nation-wide Refractive error study in children (RESC), using WHO RESC protocol, in 2018;
• information from a situation analysis is also available, as the WHO Eye care situation analysis tool (ECSAT) was piloted by WHO-SEARO and Ministry of Health of Bhutan in 2020;
• a National Health Survey 2023 with recent data on vision impairment.

The above surveys along with other national data and information will form the bases of the national eye health strategy which is being proposed here.

Objective of work

To develop Bhutan eye health strategy that will guide the country in accelerating eye care services.  

WHO is seeking a Bhutan national organization/provider/firm that can develop the following activities:

• to conduct the desk review of Bhutan eye care situational assessment and update the ECSAT conducted for Bhutan.
• facilitate and conducting a stakeholders’ meeting/workshop for setting the vision, objectives and priority activities onsite in Bhutan.
• draft the Bhutan eye health strategy.
• consult with key stakeholders, in both online and onsite discussions, to finalize the strategy and activities.
• conduct an onsite workshop with key stakeholders to prepare the costed budget.
• finalize the strategy.
• present the strategy to the Ministry of Health, as appropriate and as required by the eye health program, in Bhutan.

Note: the organization/provider/firm should be based in Bhutan with experience in developing strategies in Bhutan.

Deliverables and timeline

Required components of proposal

The proposal submitted should include:

• statement of interest,
• cost of the proposal,
• detailed experience and examples of previous relevant, similar work undertaken (or portfolio) in Bhutan,
• portfolio of the firm and curriculum vitae of the person who will lead the assignment, and
• detailed timeline for the proposed project.

Submission of proposals

Your company is invited to submit a proposal to the email vision@who.int by 11 June at 23:59 CEST.