Dec. 14, 2023 — CooperVision has announced an initiative to address disparities in myopia management among under-resourced children in the U.S. that involves collaboration with optometry schools.
 
Beginning in 2024, CooperVision will partner with the New England College of Optometry (NECO), the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS), and the Illinois College of Optometry (ICO), enabling faculty, residents, and students to identify and treat children in need while engaging other multidisciplinary community partners. CooperVision shares that the program structure is designed for scalability with the potential to add more participating schools in the future.
 
Announced at NECO’s recently held Vision Health Equity Summit, the program will provide MiSight 1 day soft contact lenses and Paragon CRT orthokeratology contact lenses at no cost for as long as participating children require myopia management.
 
According to CooperVision, the role of NECO and MCPHS involves elevating myopia management within their affiliated community health clinics to provide treatment to children who otherwise couldn’t access or afford it. Through its Illinois Eye Institute, ICO will expand its services within Chicago public schools.
 
Ongoing assessments will measure the initiative’s performance and potentially support expansion with long-term solutions for increasing access to eye care in mind.
 
"Beyond the direct benefit to children and families who participate, this initiative presents optometry students—the next generation of clinicians who will be at the leading edge of addressing the myopia epidemic—the chance to provide essential care within their communities,” says Michele Andrews, O.D., vice president of professional and government affairs for CooperVision, Americas.
 
“Forward-thinking, collaborative initiatives like this are critical to fight back against myopia’s pervasiveness, starting in our own neighborhoods,” says Greg Waldorf, O.D., MPH, associate dean of clinical programs at MCPHS.
 
“If we can collectively determine how to make myopia management accessible to more children, so many lives will be made better for decades—a heroic undertaking with immeasurable impact,” says Mark Colip, O.D., president of ICO.