Understanding a decade of progress in preventing vision loss among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Australia

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples experience a substantially higher burden of avoidable vision loss compared with non-Indigenous Australians. Over the past two decades, multiple national and regional initiatives have sought to reduce this gap by improving access to eye‑care services, including spectacle provision, diabetic retinopathy screening, cataract surgery, and the delivery of culturally safe care. Despite these efforts, inequities in eye health outcomes persist, indicating the need for ongoing critical evaluation of current approaches. This narrative review synthesises evidence from peer-reviewed literature and publicly available government reports published from 2015 to 2025 to examine the scope, implementation, and reported outcomes of contemporary eye health initiatives targeting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. There is a limited number of papers that systematically evaluate the frameworks and their long-term effectiveness and sustainability at a national level. Initiatives that prioritise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership, governance, and community partnership could be expected to be more likely to align with local needs and support culturally safe service delivery. Embedding self-determination as a guiding principle, alongside sustained investment and continuity of care, is therefore central to achieving durable improvements in both access to services and eye health outcomes. This requires strengthened partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, increased support for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander eye health workforce, and the integration of cultural safety across the optometry and ophthalmology professions through long-term, coordinated commitment.