News of the ICO, Ophthalmology and Vision:

News from the ICO Meeting in New Delhi, January 2003

Highlights

Meeting on January 14, 2003 in New Delhi, the International Council of Ophthalmology:

• met with the President of India for a discussion on "Blindness is a Priority"
  
  
• reviewed plans for the new ICOFoundation
  
  
• approved a budget for 2003 and 2004, with increased funding for the IFOS/ICO International Fellowships and ICO Web Site
  
  
• approved recommended requirements for continuing education of ophthalmologists and a document "Medical Professionalism in the New Millennium: A Physician Charter"
  
  
• defined communications priorities and plans for the ICO
  
  
• reviewed a Web Site and Internet Plan and preliminary prototypes for a new ICO Web site and an e-mail newsletter
  
  
• received a new edition of the printed IFOS/ICO Newsletter
  
  
• clarified its policies for future International Congresses of Ophthalmology, beyond 2010
  
  
• discussed progress reports on VISION 2020: The Right to Sight, the IFOS/ICO International Fellowships, International Basic and Clinical Assessments, International Clinical Guidelines and ICO initiatives in ophthalmic education and international standards.
  

See below for more details.

Meeting with All India Ophthalmological Society

The Council met in conjunction with 61st Annual Conference of the All India Ophthalmological Society (AIOS), which attracted more than 3500 ophthalmologists from India and other countries.

During opening ceremonies for the Conference, Dr. A. K. Walia, the Honorable Minister for Health and Enviroment of India, welcomed the ICO and said he appreciated its presence at the AIOS meeting.

ICO President Fritz Naumann, MD, thanked the minister and AOIS for its warm reception and recognized the major contribution that Indian ophthalmologists have made to the ICO and to preservation of vision around the world.

Dr. Naumann stressed that all ophthalmologists at the meeting, in addition to 150,000 around the world, belong to the International Federation of Ophthalmological Societies (IFOS) through their participation in its member societies.

"International ophthalmology has an address," he said, "icoph.org: the Web site of the ICO."

Ophthalmologists meet with the President of India on prevention of blindness

The Council, Advisory Committee to the ICO and members of Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis were invited for a half-hour meeting on January 15 with the President of India, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, at Rashtrapati Bhawan, the Presidential residence, to discuss "Blindness is a Priority."

A retired nuclear scientist, the President reported that one million Indians lose their vision every year, and asked how international ophthalmology could help him meet is goal of cutting that number in half by 2010.

ICO President Naumann, International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) President Hannah Faal, MD, and other ophthalmologists reported on efforts to achieve similar goals around the world, including VISION 2020: The Right to Sight and ophthalmology's Vision for the Future.

The ophthalmologists mentioned that several Indian eye institutes, such as Aravind and L.V. Prasad, serve as models for programs to preserve vision around the world.

Update on VISION 2020

IAPB President and Council member Dr. Faal reported at the Council meeting on progress of the VISION 2020: The Right to Sight program, which is led by the IAPB, World Health Organization (WHO) and various Non-Governmental Development Organizations (NGOs).

Representatives of the ICO/IFOS and other organizations involved with VISION 2020 met in Geneva in February to refine plans for the program, which has a goal of eradicating preventable blindness around the world by the year 2020.

ICOFoundation to coordinate development efforts

Bradley R. Straatsma, MD, JD, outlined initial plans for the International Council of Ophthalmology Foundation, of which he is the President. The ICOFoundation was formed to coordinate fund raising efforts of the Council.

Dr. Straatsma reported that the ICOFoundation would initially focus on obtaining support for:

• ICO initiatives in ophthalmic education
  
  
• The International Basic and Clinical Science Assessments
  
  
• IFOS/ICO International Fellowships
  
  
• International Clinical Guidelines.

The ICOFoundation has been incorporated in the United States, but related foundations may be formed in other countries as well in order to make tax-deductible contributions possible.

ICOFoundation Board named

Individuals who have agreed to serve on the Board of Directors of the ICOFoundation include:

Bradley R. Straatsma, MD, JD, President

Gottfried O. H. Naumann, MD, Vice President

Bruce E. Spivey, MD, Secretary-Treasurer

Rubens Belfort, MD, PhD

Akef El Maghraby, MD

David E. Pyott

Timothy R. G. Sear

Paul A. Sieving, MD, PhD

Alfred Sommer, MD

Yasuo Tano, MD

Council approves 2003 – 2004 budget

The ICO approved a budget covering 2003 and 2004 with close to 800,000 CHF in expenditures for each year, including the Basic and Clinical Science Assessments, which are self-supporting.

Increased funding was approved for the IFOS/ICO International Fellowships and the ICO Web site.

Council Officers, members and the Advisory Committee pay for their own airfare and accommodations for Council meetings and other travel in behalf of the ICO. They receive no remuneration for their service to the ICO and IFOS.

Survey on the use of ICO Clinical Guidelines

P. N. Nagpal, MD, reported to the Council on a survey conducted by ICO Guidelines Director Richard L. Abbott, MD, to assess how societies and ophthalmologists use the International Clinical Guidelines developed by the ICO.

Eighteen Guidelines are now available on the ICO Web site and four new ones are in draft form.

Societies urged to distribute IFOS/ICO Newsletter

Dr. Nagpal also distributed the fifth IFOS/ICO Newsletter, of which he is the editor. (The Newsletter will be available on the Web site soon.)

The Council encouraged national societies to seek grants to cover the cost of printing and distributing the newsletter to all ophthalmologists in their countries, particularly where many do not have Internet access.

Physician Charter for Professionalism

The Council approved a document "Medical Professionalism in the New Millenium: A Physician Charter" (also available as a PDF file).

Developed by various internal medicine organizations, the Charter is part of an initiative to reaffirm the medical profession's civic commitment.

Continuing Medical Education Requirements approved

Recommended requirements for continuing medical education (CME), adopted by the ICO in January 2003, are now available on the ICO Web site.

The requirements cover defining the objectives of courses, evaluation, relationships with industry and conflicts of interest. They reaffirm and expand on requirements adopted by the ICO in Amsterdam in June 1998.

The Council hopes that the requirements will be useful to ophthalmological societies developing or evaluating continuing education programs for their members.

Advisory Committee supports Assessments and Fellowships

Meeting the day before the Council, the newly reorganized Advisory Committee to the ICO expressed strong support for both the International Basic and Clinical Assessments and the IFOS/ICO International Fellowships.

Chaired by H. Dunbar Hoskins, Jr., MD, the Advisory Committee recommended, and the Council agreed, that individuals who have passed the Basic and Clinical Science Assessments should be given preference in consideration for IFOS/ICO International Fellowships.

The Council appointed an ad hoc committee to study what more could be done to make it possible for ophthalmologists who cannot afford the fees to take the Assessments.

Greater visibility for Basic and Clinical Assessments

The Advisory Committee also recommended that the ICO do more to increase visibility of the Assessments and understanding of their goals among ophthalmology residency programs directors, national examining boards and ophthalmologists around the world.

The Committee emphasized how valuable the Assessments could be as an integral part of ophthalmology residency training.

Assessments available in Russian

Assessments Director Peter Watson reported to the Council that the Assessments would be offered in Russian for the first time this year, in addition to English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese.

In 2002, 688 candidates from 44 countries took the Assessments at 62 centers around the world.

The 2003 Assessments were given on April 3, 2003.

Subspecialists on Advisory Committee

Recognizing the critical role that subspecialists and subspecialty organizations play within ophthalmology internationally and to support unity within the profession, the Advisory Committee has been reorganized to include individuals representative of all of the subspecialties of ophthalmology.

See the listing of new Committee members.

Council defines communications plans

Strategic Planning and Communications Consultant Bill Felch, who is also the Web master for the ICO Web site, led a mini-planning session of the Council and Advisory Committee to define a communications plan for the ICO.

Participants agreed that the highest priority audiences for ICO communications should be:

• Ophthalmologic societies, particularly IFOS members and national societies
  
  
• Ophthalmologists, including IFOS society members, those in developing countries, residents and all others
  
  
• The World Health Organization (WHO), Government leaders and other national officials and ministers of health
  
  
• The International Association for the Prevention of Blindness and Non-Governmental Development Agencies
  
  
• Medical Colleges, Teaching institutions and universities.

New Web site and E-mail newsletter

The Council also reviewed a draft Web Site and Internet Plan and preliminary prototypes for a newly designed ICO Web site and an e-mail newsletter to be sent to ophthalmologic society leaders around the world.

More than 30 society leaders had responded to a questionnaire sent out by the ICO in December requesting their ideas on how the ICO could use its Web site and the Internet more effectively. There was broad support for communications via an e-mail newsletter in addition to the Web site and other means.

The new Web site will be launched this Fall, followed by the e-mail newsletter to ophthalmologic society leaders. Both will focus on providing information and resources of value to society leaders and ophthalmologists, in addition to news of the ICO and international ophthalmology.

Vision requirements for driving

August Colenbrander, MD, reported that the ICO Committee on Standards, chaired by Jean-Jacques DeLaey, MD, is drafting proposed international vision requirements for driving. The Committee is gathering data on current requirements in different countries.

WHO to consider ICO standards for visual loss

The World Health Organization (WHO) will give official consideration this year to the ICO's resolution on "Visual Standards - Aspects and Ranges of Vision Loss," according to WHO Representative and Advisory Committee member Ramachandra Pararajasegaram, MD.

WHO redefining relationships

Advisory Committee Member Serge Resnikoff, MD, PhD, who heads the WHO's Prevention of Blindess and Deafness efforts, reported to the Council on WHO's process of redefining how it relates to other organizations. He said he did not anticipate significant changes in how WHO works with IFOS/ICO.

IFOS to meet October 23, 2004

The next meeting of the International Federation of Ophthalmologic Societies (IFOS), for which the Council is the executive body, has been scheduled October 23, 2004 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, just prior to the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting there.

The Council is studying whether to recommend expanding IFOS to include additional ophthalmological societies, each with voting rights. If it does, it will make a formal recommendation to IFOS prior to the meeting in 2004.

In the future, IFOS will meet every two years.

XXXI International Congress will be June 6 - 10, 2010 in Berlin

The Council approved the recommendation of the German Society of Ophthalmology to schedule the 31st International Congress of Ophthalmology from June 6 - 10, 2010 in Berlin.

International Congresses in Brazil in 2006 and Hong Kong in 2008

The Council also received updates on the:

• The XXX International Congress of Ophthalmology February 19 - 24, 2006 in São Paulo, Brazil, the week before Carnival
  
  
• An interim International Congress June 28 to July 2, 2008 in Hong Kong.

Council defines Congress policies

The Council clarified its policies for future International Congresses of Ophthalmology, beyond 2010.

It will:

• Sponsor Congresses every two years in conjunction with a supranational society or a national society recommended by a supranational
  
  
• Rotate locations in the following order: Americas, Asia, Europe, Africa
  
  
• Seek a minimum financial commitment from a sponsoring society, with a goal of splitting any net proceeds from the Congress equally with the sponsoring society
  
  
• Negotiate details for the Congress prior to awarding the Congress site.

See the new policies for details.

Council considers additional awards

The Council also expressed its gratitude to several organizations that have proposed that additional named medals be awarded at International Congress of Ophthalmology.

A Committee was appointed to recommend how the Council could most appropriately manage awards in addition to those already covered in its Regulations.

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