This year’s theme is “Addressing eye health care inequalities through leadership and collaboration”.  There are significant inequalities in access to vision and eye health care worldwide.  In the US or several countries where VOSH is present, patients face challenges accessing the care they need on a timely and affordable basis.  Leadership and strategic vision for optometry’s role in addressing these inequalities is something we can nurture among our school (SVOSH) chapters.

The meeting in Indianapolis will focus on the experiences that enhance leadership and collaboration among US SVOSH and VOSH chapters for better patient outcomes at home and during humanitarian work.  The program will offer clinical pearls for successful humanitarian work, the role of mentorship in nurturing leadership, collaboration with other optometry students’ networks, and the importance of establishing sustainable eye care.   Insights from emerging global and African networks of optometry students will be shared during the meeting.

The program will also include the presentation of the two VOSH/International Awards and the inauguration of five new Board members, two from Africa and Asia respectively.

The meeting in Indianapolis completes the series of two annual meetings this year.  The meeting for the Latin American VOSH and SVOSH chapters will take place on October 26^th in Quito, Ecuador.

We are grateful for the support of VSP Vision as the US SVOSH Travel Grants  Sponsor and ALCON Partner Sponsor of the US version of our Annual Meeting