Cambridge, Massachusetts, July 19 – Shivang Dave, PhD, CEO and Co-founder of PlenOptika, Inc. is one of six global eye care experts who will present a webinar, “Strategies and Tactics”, as part of the Advocacy to Action campaign sponsored by the International Agency to Prevent Blindness (IAPB). The webinar will educate health policy advocates from around the world on how to expand and improve eye health policy in their respective nations.

“It is a great honor to be included with global eye health experts and share our experiences with health policy advocates,” noted Dave, who co-invented the QuickSee™ handheld autorefractor and co-founded PlenOptika. “We’re humbled to be counted among other patrons of the Advocacy to Action campaign, such as Roche, Novartis, Bayer, Allergan and CooperVision. Our goal in collaborating with IAPB is to update and upgrade eye health policy to end global blindness.”

Dave will serve on a distinguished panel with Katherine G. Overbey, President and Executive Director, OneSight; Boateng Wiafe, Medical Director, Watborg Eye Services and Technical Advisor, Operation Eyesight Universal; Ashley Mills, Chief Executive Officer, The Vision Council; Anaseini Cama, Pacific Trachoma coordinator, Fred Hollows Foundation; and Kevin Cahill, Honorary Life President, Comic Relief. The webinar will air on August 3 from 11 am to 12:30 pm BST (6 am to 7:30 am EST). You may register here.

Uncorrected refractive error is a matter of major global concern, including wealthy nations. A report published by The Lancet in February 2021 estimated that over 1 billion people worldwide had distance-or near-vision impairment, resulting in at least $410 billion in productivity loss annually. Poor vision tremendously impacts quality of life, education, and workforce opportunities. This is the challenge PlenOptika set out to solve.

A new paper recently published by Ophthalmology found that eyeglasses made from QuickSee handheld autorefractor measurements were accepted equally to those made from subjective refraction measurements. The findings indicate QuickSee could be used to radically expand access to eyeglasses in low resource settings, where there are insufficient professionals and clinical equipment to meet the demand for accurate prescriptions.

This is just the most recent of several peer-reviewed papers that document the unique value of QuickSee technology in a wide variety of eyecare settings.

“These findings support our belief that the global burden of vision impairment can be met with innovative approaches and technology, not only in low-and middle-income countries, but also in wealthy countries like the US where vision care disparities persist,” said Dave.

About PlenOptika

PlenOptika designs and produces tools to help vision professionals perform their best care anywhere. Inspired to solve the global burden of poor vision, we developed QuickSee™, the world’s most accurate handheld autorefractor. Vision professionals and NGOs have used QuickSee on over 3 million patients in more than 45 countries to transform their lives with clear vision.