IFOS Notes:
Please Contact Your Minister of Health ASAP
Dear IFOS Members and Friends,
I am writing to ask you to do something this week that is relatively easy but could have a positive impact on support for prevention of blindness and eye care, both in your country and around the world.
As described in more detail below, please contact your Minister of Health and other members of your national delegation to the World Health Assembly (WHA) as soon as possible and ask them to speak at the upcoming WHA in Geneva in support of inclusion of prevention of blindness in the WHO Medium-term Strategic Plan and 2008-09 budget.
Since the WHA starts May 14, it is critical that you contact your Minister and other delegates by the end of the week. The sooner, the better.
If a leader of your society could speak personally with your Minister and ask for his or her support, that would be ideal.
See below for background information and resources that can help you make the case.
As you may remember, last year, the Eastern Mediterranean Region Office (EMRO) of IAPB, led by HRH Abdulaziz Bin Ahmad Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and ICO Council Member Abdulaziz AlRajhi, MD, launched a campaign to increase WHO support for prevention of blindness and visual impairment.
As a result of coordinated efforts by many, including national ophthalmologic societies and individual ophthalmologists, the WHA in May 2006 passed resolution WHA 59.25, which calls for more support for the VISION 2020 global initiative specifically and for prevention of avoidable blindness and visual impairment in general. (For details, see www.icoph.org/prev/index.html#wha.)
Adoption of the resolution was a major accomplishment, but the impact will be much less than desired if prevention of blindness is not specifically included in WHO Medium-term Strategic Plan and 2008 - 09 programme budget. The Strategic Plan defines priorities for WHO action, and the budget allocates the funds needed to support that action.
The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness wrote to each Minister of Health on May 3rd asking for their support at the upcoming WHA. But the ministers will be more inclined to take positive action if they hear from their constituents, including prominent ophthalmologists and ophthalmologic societies. And Ministers who are supportive of prevention of blindness and eye care now are more likely to be supportive when national health care priorities are defined.
The WHO Strategic Plan and budget will be discussed under Item 11 in Committee A at the WHA.
Please ask your Minister and other members of your national delegation to speak in that Committee, and in plenary sessions if necessary, in support of inclusion of prevention of blindness in the WHO Medium-term Strategic Plan and 2008 - 09 budget.
Strategic Objective 3 (SO3) in the draft Strategic Plan is:
3. to prevent and reduce disease, disability and premature death from chronic noncommunicable conditions, mental disorders, violence and injuries
The delegation from Saudi Arabia will propose amendments to strengthen the language on prevention of blindness, and we would appreciate your requesting support for those amendments as well.
For reference, you can download the following:
If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Abdulaziz AlRajhi, at emr@emr-iapb.org. Please send Dr. AlRajhi and me a copy of your correspondence with your Minister.
Thank you in advance for taking this important action.
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
spivey@icoph.org
www.icoph.org
International Council of Ophthalmology