1. Summary of programme area and objectives

1.1 CEVG is an international network of individuals working to prepare, maintain and promote access to systematic reviews of interventions to treat or prevent eye diseases or visual impairment. The Group also considers the evidence for interventions that aim to help people adjust to visual impairment or blindness.

1.2 The CEVG has a strategy for prioritisation that emphasises major causes of blindness in the world and areas where there is wide variation in clinical practice and outcomes. This supports the development of evidence based practice and identifies research priorities where existing knowledge is inadequate.

1.3 The main outcome for the group is visual function, which can be assessed in a variety of ways including measurement of visual acuity, assessment of visual field, and assessment of vision related quality of life. Other outcomes are included as necessary within individual reviews.

  2. Programme plan

2.1 The CEVG is midway through its current NHS R and D grant which ends in April 2004. The group continues to recruit and support reviewers from around the world and at the latest edition of the Cochrane Library, there were twenty completed reviews and eighteen current protocols. There are currently 34 registered titles.

2.2 Current activities are focusing on updating and reorganising the specialised register of trials relevant to eyes and vision. A publishing contract with the British Medical Journal to produce a multi-authored text on Evidence Based Ophthalmology is underway.

2.3 Collaborators in the USA based at Brown University Rhode Island have been successful in securing a seven year contract, (worth $5.3 million) with National Institutes of Health to recruit and train reviewers from the USA. This should have a major impact on the productivity of CEVG.

2.4 In collaboration with Moorfields NHS Trust R and D and The Vision 2020 group (WHO collaborating centre) at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, we plan to develop an Eye Health Library to inform policy for Vision 2020 and empower contributors around the world with access to the best available evidence to support the elimination of avoidable blindness in the World by the year 2020. A proposal for this has been submitted to the WHO task force for Vision 2020.

2.5 An outline of our strategy for the next three years follows:

2.5.1 April 2002 to March 2003 - Promoting external validity
During this period we will focus on raising the profile of the group. We will promote awareness of the group to agencies, organisations and individuals. This will not only attract new contributors the Group, but will also form the basis for work in year four. The NEI development will have a major impact on this. The Eye Health Library project will provide links and dissemination opportunities with international health professionals concerned with global eye disease issues.

2.5.2 April 2003 to March 2004 - Getting reviews into practice
During this period we will work on developing working relationships with decision makers. The external validity of Cochrane research methods is demonstrated by the incorporation of review findings into guidelines and decision making processes. The Group is already in discussion with decision making bodies in the UK and elsewhere to identify areas lacking clinical evidence.

2.5.3 April 2004 to March 2005 - Consolidation
During this period the Group will focus on re-evaluating its position.
We will investigate possible affiliations with the Campbell Collaboration, a sibling organisation to the Cochrane Collaboration concerned with preparing systematic reviews of social and educational interventions.

  3. Future development work in the programme during 2002/3

3.1 April 2002 to March 2003 - Promoting external validity. During this period we will focus on raising the profile of the group. We will promote awareness of the group to agencies, organisations and individuals. This will not only attract new contributors the Group, but will also form the basis for work in year four. The NEI development will have a major impact on this. The Eye Health Library project will provide links and dissemination opportunities with international health professionals concerned with global eye disease issues.

3.2 April 2003 to March 2004 - Getting reviews into practice
During this period we will work on developing working relationships with decision makers. The external validity of Cochrane research methods is demonstrated by the incorporation of review findings into guidelines and decision making processes. The Group is already in discussion with decision making bodies in the UK and elsewhere to identify areas lacking clinical evidence.