CooperVision’s 5th APMMS draws over 2,000 as myopia interest grows

High turnout signals rising urgency for myopia management across Asia-Pacific.

The 2024 Asia-Pacific Myopia Management Symposium (APMMS) saw a record turnout, reflecting growing urgency among practitioners and industry leaders to address myopia management across the region.

“This is the fifth year of APMMS, and it's a pretty unique year,” said Shila Gupta, Myopia Management General Manager, Asia Pacific, CooperVision. “We have had one main event, which was this one in Hong Kong, but we've also had several satellite events, starting with Taiwan, followed up with Korea, Hong Kong, moving on to China, and then into Singapore.”

The event series is seeing over 2,000 participants, both online and on-site. “This just shows the interest of not only this event being a flagship event for Coopervision across the region, but also every time we have done this event, we believe that practice has changed. The awareness of myopia among the ECPs has changed, the belief of myopia being a disease, and the practice patterns have also changed based on our discussions with our colleagues and with the ECPs in each country,” Gupta noted.

Beyond growing participation, this year’s discussions also highlighted a shift towards consensus-building across professional groups. “A lot of the discussion has been about building consensus across both optometrists and ophthalmologists,” Gupta said, citing partnerships with the World Council of Optometry (WCO) and the World Society of Paediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (WSPOS).

For CooperVision, the strong turnout and evolving conversations further shape its Asia-Pacific strategy as myopia control continues to gain momentum across the region.