IFOS Notes:
Requesting Your Thoughts on the Future of the ICO/IFOS

In this issue of IFOS Notes, I ask you to answer to three questions to help us begin to define the future of international ophthalmology and the International Council of Ophthalmology/International Federation of Ophthalmological Societies (ICO/IFOS).

I will also tell you about our plans to define a new strategic plan for ICO/IFOS.

To define a relevant and appropriate plan, it is critical that we hear your ideas. We have set up an online ICO/IFOS “Forum on the Future,” which is described below. I urge you to read this information and then visit the Forum and contribute your thoughts.

I also want to thank those of you who have contacted your minister of health and other members of your national delegation to the World Health Assembly in May in Geneva and asked them to support WHO Resolution EB117.R4.

If you haven’t done so, please contact them as soon as possible, as described under #5 below. Your efforts can be critical to increasing support for prevention of blindness and visual loss around the world.

1. Please Answer These Three Questions

To begin the strategic planning process, I would ask you to answer three questions. Why? Your answers will help us understand how IFOS members think about the future  environment and ICO/IFOS. And, this will provide valuable input for a planning session that we have scheduled in July, as described below.

Here are the three questions:

• What trends (e.g., aging population, new technology) will have the greatest impact on ophthalmology and eye care in the next five to 10 years?
  
  
• What are the greatest strengths of international ophthalmology and the ICO/IFOS (e.g., broad scope of practice, experience with education)?
  
  
• What are the most important weaknesses of international ophthalmology and the ICO/IFOS (e.g., lack of organizational visibility and financial support)?

To answer, please go to the ICO/IFOS “Forum on the Future” at www.icoph.org/plan. Under each question, click on the link for "Comments.” Type your answer in the box that's provided, select "Other" and type in your name, and then click "Publish Your Comment."

That's all there is to it. There’s no need to register or sign in. We would like to know who submits each comment, but you can respond anonymously if you prefer.

If for some reason you can't access the Forum or contribute there, you are welcome to respond by e-mail. If you don't object, we will add your comments to the Forum. But it would be much better if you can respond at www.icoph.org/plan. It is actually quite "user friendly," even for “technically challenged” people like me.

2. ICO/IFOS Strategic Planning

One of my top priorities as the new President of the ICO is to stimulate a process in which we take a fresh look at the future of international ophthalmology and define a new strategic plan for the ICO/IFOS.

In 1999 - 2001, we held a series of planning meetings that resulted in definition of the Vision for Future - International Ophthalmology Strategic Plan to Preserve and Restore Vision (www.icoph.org/prev/plan.html).

Inspired by that Vision and led by President Fritz Naumann, MD, the ICO accomplished a great deal in the years that followed (see www.icoph.org/ic/presreport.html).

Vision for the Future focused broadly on international ophthalmology and its role in preserving and restoring vision for the people of the world, not specifically on the ICO and IFOS.

In 2006, we would like to take a fresh look at the role ophthalmology should play around the world and how we can contribute most effectively. But we also want to focus in on the organization and define what we want the ICO/IFOS to be five years from now, what our priorities and goals should be and how best to accomplish them.

We made great progress under Fritz's leadership, but we still have very limited resources and no central office or staff. So it is essential for us to define clearly what it is most important for us to work on, what we must accomplish, and how.

3. The Planning Process

We have scheduled a small strategic planning meeting early in July in Zurich with the new Executive Committee and a few other members of the Council.

It is not practical at this time to try to organize a larger meeting or series of meetings. Still, I feel that it is critical for the participants in the planning session to have the benefit of the ideas and thinking of the Council and its Advisory Committee, of IFOS members and of other ophthalmologic leaders around the world.

So I will be sending out a series of e-mailings asking for your ideas. This is the first. It is important to the success of the planning process that you respond and give us your thinking. We will also be asking for your feedback on the plans as they evolve.

4. ICO/IFOS Forum on The Future

To facilitate this process, our strategic planning and communications consultant Bill Felch (who is also the ICO Web Master and facilitates the mailing the ICO Leader Letter and IFOS Notes) has set up an ICO/IFOS “Forum on the Future" on our Web site at www.icoph.org/plan.

We will ask you a series of questions in the coming months and request that you respond in this Forum. That way, everyone will be able to see what each of you contributes. I also hope we can generate some dynamic discussion about the future of international ophthalmology and the ICO/IFOS. This will be of great value to the participants in the planning session.

I was a bit skeptical of this format initially, but believe you will find it fun and functional - but you have to participate!

After the planning session, we will post draft plans in the Forum and ask you for your comments. We would like to develop consensus this year and then approve a strategic plan at the next Council meeting in March 2007.

Please also let me know if you have comments on or suggestions for the process. You can do that by commenting on my welcome to the Forum or by e-mail.

Thank you in advance for your ideas and participation, which will contribute profoundly to our strategic planning and the future of the ICO/IFOS.

5. Act Now To Increase Support for Prevention of Blindness

There is less than a month until the World Health Assembly (WHA), on May 22 to 29 in Geneva, where decisions will be made that will have a profound effect on the future allocation of resources to prevention of blindness and visual loss.

If you haven’t already done so, please contact your minister of health and other members of your delegation to the WHA as soon as possible and encourage them to vote in Geneva to support WHO Resolution EB117.R4.

At www.icoph.org/wha, you can download:

• the resolution
• a sample letter to ministers of health
• a slide show designed for ministers
• other documents that make a strong case for increasing support for prevention of blindness.

Please act now. The vote in Geneva will have a significant impact on the allocation of resources to prevention of blindness around the world.

With warm regards,

Bruce Spivey, MD
ICO President

945 Green Street
San Francisco, CA, 94133, USA
(1-415) 409-8410
Fax: (1-415) 409-8403
mailto:spivey@icoph.org