The WHO Regional Office held a regional VISION 2020 planning workshop for the prevention of avoidable blindness in Cairo, Egypt, on 23–26 November 2008. The main aim of the workshop was to intensify the efforts made by Member States, secretariat and international partners working in the prevention of blindness and visual impairment through the development of national and district comprehensive eye care programme. The objectives were to:
review the current status of prevention of blindness activities under VISION 2020 global initiative for the past five years (2004–2008) in the Eastern Mediterranean Region
review the implementation process in relation to the recommendations of the regional VISION 2020 planning workshop, Cairo, 14–17 December 2003
review the progress and identify the gaps and limitations in implementing national VISION 2020 plans
develop guidelines for partnership development between Member States and other stakeholders for scaling up VISION 2020
identify priorities for the prevention of blindness programme for the Region for the next five years (2009–2013);
identify areas for operational research for eye care and possible networking of relevant centres
develop an action plan for establishing a school screening programme for early detection of refractive errors in the Region.
