ICO Leader Letter:
New ICO Clinical Guideline on Leprosy

December 2004, Volume 1, Number 9

In This Issue:

1. Wishing You the Best in the New Year (Fritz Naumann, MD)

2. New ICO Clinical Guideline on Leprosy (Rich Abbott, MD)

3. Glaucoma Now the Second Leading Cause of Blindness (Fritz Naumann, MD)

4. Council Approves Ophthalmic Pathology Award,Beitti and Krwawicz Medals (Bruce Spivey, MD)

5. Four Supranational Congresses in 2005 (Mark Tso, MD)

6. American Academy Honors Ophthalmologists for International Service (Bruce Spivey, MD)

7. Coming in the January ICO Leader Letter

8. More News

9. Request for Other News and Resources

10. Forward the ICO Leader Letter to your Colleagues

11. Comments, Change of Address, Privacy Policy, Subscribe and Unsubscribe

1. Wishing You the Best in the New Year

Dear Colleagues:

Fritz Naumann, MD

In the past year, the International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) has made tremendous progress in our efforts to enhance ophthalmic education and preserve vision. See www.icoph.org for details.

I want to express my sincere thanks to the Council, Advisory Committee and other ICO committee chairs and members who contributed their valuable time and traveled at their own expense.

In 2005, I expect more major accomplishments from the ICO, including definition of ethical principles and guidelines, vision requirements for driving, a curriculum for training allied personnel and guidelines for the continuing professional development of ophthalmologists.

We also look forward to welcoming international subspecialty societies as members of the International Federation of Ophthalmological Societies (IFOS).

Best wishes to all for a healthy and productive 2005.

– Fritz Naumann, MD, ICO President

2. New ICO Clinical Guideline on Leprosy

Rich Abbott, MD

There are now 19 Clinical Guidelines available (www.icoph.org/guide/guidelist.html), and more are being developed covering the most prevalent eye conditions and diseases around the world.

The Guidelines are designed to help ophthalmologists assess how they are treating patients. They are intended to serve a supportive and educational role and ultimately to improve the quality of eye care for patients.

The ICO would appreciate whatever ophthalmologic society leaders can do to make your members aware of the guidelines and encourage their use in practice.

Ten of the Guidelines are being translated into Chinese, and we would like to work with other societies interested in adapting them for use in your country. You can contact me at guidelines@icoph.org.

– Rich Abbott, MD, ICO Council Member and Guidelines Coordinator

3. Glaucoma Now the Second Leading Cause of Blindness

An "In Focus" news feature in the same Bulletin points out that glaucoma may present a greater public health challenge than the leading cause, cataracts, because it is irreversible, not to mention issues related to diagnosis and treatment.

The paper details the prevalence of glaucoma in different parts of the world and describes the efforts of a Swiss Charity called "Vision for All" to address the problem. André Mermoud, MD, director of "Vision for All" told the Bulletin: "Especially in Africa, it will be essential to train hundreds of eye doctors."

You can download the feature on glaucoma at: www.who.int/entity/bulletin/volumes/82/11/en/infocus.pdf.

The complete WHO report on blindness and vision impairment can be downloaded at: www.who.int/entity/bulletin/volumes/82/11/en/844.pdf.

– Fritz Naumann, MD, ICO President and Advocacy Coordinator

4. Council Approves Ophthalmic Pathology Award, Beitti and Krwawicz Medals

Bruce Spivey, MD

At its meeting in New Orleans in October, the ICO approved presentation of three additional medals/awards during the opening session of the World Ophthalmology Congress (previously World Ophthalmology Congress):

• The Ophthalmic Pathology Award, supported by the Gottfried and Lieselotte Naumann Foundation;
  
  
• The Beitti Medal, which will be awarded in recognition of scientific and educational contributions in ophthalmology and for facilitating international communications; and
  
  
• The Tadeusz Krwawicz Gold Medal, which will recognize significant contributions to ophthalmology, especially in diseases of the anterior segment and/or introduction of new technologies, and to the advancement of international relationships among ophthalmologists.

These three medals are in addition to the Gonin Medal, Duke Elder Medal, Jules François Medal and the Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis' Streiff Medal, which have traditionally been awarded at the Congress.

No more than five medals will be presented during the opening ceremonies of any one Congress.

– Bruce Spivey, MD, ICO Secretary-General

5. Four Supranational Congresses in 2005

Mark Tso, MD

• March 18 – 21, 2005, Santiago, Chile
  XXV Pan-American Congress of Ophthalmology (www.panamoftchile.cl)
  
  
• March 27 – 31, 2005, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  20th Congress of the Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology Congress (www.apao2005.com.my)
  
  
• April 7 – 10, 2005, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
  VIII International Congress of the Pan Arab African Council of Ophthalmology (www.paaco2005.com)
  
  
• September 25 – 29, Berlin, Germany
  15th Congress of the European Society of Ophthalmology, a joint meeting with the 103rd Annual Meeting of the German Society of Ophthalmology (www.soe2005.org)

– Mark Tso, MD, ICO Vice President and Education Coordinator

6. American Academy Honors Ophthalmologists for International Service

The Academy also honored two ophthalmologists with its Outstanding Humanitarian Service Award:

• Peter R. Egbert, MD, for service in Ghana and other countries and "landmark contributions to improve delivery of ophthalmic care worldwide," and
  
  
• Marilyn J. Scudder, MD, for devoting her entire career to serving the indigent people of Tanzania, including training ophthalmologists and allied personnel.

For more on the Awards and recipients, see: www.aao.org/aao/member/awards/.

Congratulations from the ICO to these three and to all other ophthalmologists who serve beyond the borders of their own countries.

7. Coming in the January ICO Leader Letter:

Ophthalmologists Must Lead Eye Care

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

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