Delay of International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11)
Posted on May 23, 2011
Topic: ICD-11, Standards for Eye Care and Vision
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that they would delay releasing the beta version of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) until May 2012. The WHO cited a lack of content and underdeveloped software as reasons for the delay. The International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) ICD-11 Task Force has been working with the WHO to revise the ophthalmological data in the current ICD-10 and create a new generation of classification, the ICD-11. The Task Force met on May 2, 2011 at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology’s annual meeting to discuss the project.
The ICD serves as a common language that allows doctors and allied health workers around the world to classify diseases and communicate with each other. The ICD-11 will reflect the latest scientific knowledge in ophthalmology and all other medical fields. Developed in a collaborative online “wiki” platform, the ICD-11 will be subjected to systematic field trials and then made available to the public for comment.
The WHO periodically updates the ICD. The latest revision, ICD-10, was adopted by the World Health Assembly in 1990. In 2007, the WHO announced the 11th revision of the ICD.
