(Read previous ICO Leader Letters at www.icoph.org/news/letters.html.)
Electronic publications like the ICO Leader Letter help to improve communications among ophthalmologists around the world, but there is nothing like being able to speak in person. Special thanks to members of the Council, its Advisory Committee and Representatives to IFOS for your participation and contributions. I hope we can maintain close communications throughout the year. In this Leader Letter, we report a few highlights from the ICO, IFOS and Academy/SOE meetings. For a lot more news, see the ICO Eye Site at www.icoph.org. – Fritz Naumann, MD, ICO President 2. IFOS Will Expand To Include Subspecialty Societies
The ICO (the executive body for IFOS) recommended the expansion in recognition of the critical role that subspecialty societies play in ophthalmology around the world. Previously, IFOS voting membership was limited to the primary national ophthalmological society in each country. We are still defining specific criteria for society membership, but the Council agreed that participation of more than one organization per subspecialty (e.g., retina) should be allowed. IFOS membership will be subject to approval of the ICO. All ophthalmic subspecialties are already represented on the Advisory Committee to the ICO, which also met in New Orleans, prior to the Council and IFOS meetings. – Bruce Spivey, MD, ICO Secretary General 3. WHO Reports Progress on Reducing Blindness, New Data on Visual Impairment Efforts to reduce blindness throughout the world are paying off, World Health Organization (WHO) Representative and Advisory Committee member Ramachandra Pararajasegaram, MD, reported to the Council when we met October 22.Dr. Pararajasegaram told us that WHO would soon publish new data that show that the long-term trend in the number of people in the world who are blind has been reversed: the total number of blind or visually impaired people has started to decrease. The data have since been published in the Bulletin of the WHO: in 2002, there were more than 161 million people worldwide with visual impairment, of whom about 37 million were blind. This is a huge challenge for ophthalmology and others working to preserve and restore vision. Cataract remains the leading cause of visual impairment in the world, but glaucoma has moved up from the third to second leading cause, followed by age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and trachoma. The complete WHO report can be downloaded at: www.who.int/entity/bulletin/volumes/82/11/en/844.pdf. – Fritz Naumann, MD, ICO President and Advocacy Coordinator 4. IAPB Reorganized, Implementation of Vision 2020 at the National Level
As I reported to the Council in New Orleans, the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) has been reorganized to align its structure with its function, while still trying to remain inclusive. In the new structure, members of the IAPB Council will elect a Board of Trustees, which oversees IAPB operations. ICO/IFOS, one of the founders of the IAPB along with the World Blind Union, will have a permanent position on the Board. I also reported on the progress of Vision 2020: The Right To Sight, the global initiative that aims to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020. Vision 2020 implementation plans have been defined in each of the six WHO regions, and national plans have been developed in at least 10 countries. Ophthalmologic societies and individual ophthalmologists are encouraged to become involved in the definition of your national Vision 2020 plans. A revised toolkit for developing national, provincial and local Vision 2020 action plans is available on CD and at: www.v2020.org/toolkit/Toolkit2/start.htm. – Nag Rao, MD, ICO Council Member and IAPB President 5. American Academy of Ophthalmology Will Host 2012 World Ophthalmology Congress At our meeting in New Orleans, the ICO accepted an invitation from the American Academy of Ophthalmology to host the 2012 International Congress of Ophthalmology. The joint meeting will be November 10 – 13, 2012 in Chicago.The Council also voted to change the name of the Congress to the "World Ophthalmology Congress." Congress organizers recommended the change to help them distinguish the meeting from the many other international congresses. The Council discussed changing the names of the ICO and IFOS, but we did not agree on a recommendation to IFOS. We will consider the names again when we meet next year, May 11 in Florence. The next IFOS General Assembly will be February 20, 2006 in São Paulo.– Bruce Spivey, MD, ICO Secretary-General 6. Brazil Congress Offers Free Registration to IFOS Representatives
Societies should inform ICO Secretary-General Bruce Spivey (spivey@icoph.org) who their IFOS representative in São Paulo will be, and Dr. Spivey will coordinate the free registration with the Congress organizers. For more on the Congress, see our new Web site at www.ophthalmology2006.com.br or e-mail info@ophthalmology2006.com.br. – ICO Council Member and São Paulo Congress President Rubens Belfort, MD 7. Coming in the December ICO Leader Letter: More from the ICO, IFOS and Academy/SOE Meetings 8. More News For more news of the ICO and international ophthalmology and resources for ophthalmologic leaders, see the ICO's Eye Site at www.icoph.org. 9. Request for Other News and Resources Do you have other news of international ophthalmology or know resources (particularly on the Web) that would be valuable to society leaders? Please let us know at leader@icoph.org. 10. Forward the ICO Leader Letter to your Colleagues: If there are other ophthalmologic leaders you think might be interested in seeing this ICO Leader Letter, please forward this issue to them by clicking on the following link or copying it and pasting it into a Web browser: 11. Comments, Change of Address, Privacy Policy, Subscribe and Unsubscribe Send comments and suggestions for the Leader Letter to leader@icoph.org. You are subscribed as recipient@youraddress.com. Change your address by sending e-mail to:leader@icoph.org. We do not share e-mail addresses with anyone else. Check our privacy policy at: www.icoph.org/ic/privacy.html. To subscribe to the Leader Letter, visit www.icoph.org/news/subscribe.html. To unsubscribe, reply to this e-mail and type “unsubscribe” (without the quotes) as the subject, click on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this page, or send an e-mail to leader@icoph.org. You can read this ICO Leader Letter online at www.icoph.org/news/leader0411.html. For previous issues, go to www.icoph.org/news/letters.html#archive. Copyright © 2004 International Council of Ophthalmology. All rights reserved.  International Council of OphthalmologyHome | News | About ICO/IFOS | ICOFoundation | Contact | Find |
