ICO Leader Letter:
WHA Supports Prevention and Eye Care

June 2006, Volume 3, Number 6

In This Issue:

1. Priorities, Priorities, Priorities (Bruce Spivey, MD)

2. WHA Calls for Increased Support for VISION 2020 and Eye Care (Nag Rao, MD)

3. Resolution Asks WHO To Give Priority to Prevention of Blindness (Nag Rao, MD)

4. ICO Urges Societies To Recognize World Sight Day (Hugh Taylor, MD)

5. What Should Be the Top Priorities for the ICO/IFOS? (Bruce Spivey, MD)

6. Online Registry for International Volunteers (Dunbar Hoskins, MD)

7. Next ICO and IFOS Meetings and World Ophthalmology Congress

8. Coming in the July ICO Leader Letter

9. More News

10. Request for other News and Resources

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

1. Priorities, Priorities, Priorities

Bruce Spivey, MD

Second, there is a great opportunity to focus attention in your country on the problem of global blindness by recognizing World Sight Day on October 12, as urged by ICO Advocacy Director Hugh Taylor, MD, under #4 below. And there are excellent resources available to help you do that.

Finally, the International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) is rethinking what its top priorities should be for the next five years as part of a strategic planning process. We would like to hear what you think, as requested under #5 below.

- Bruce Spivey, MD, ICO President

2. WHA Calls for Increased Support for VISION 2020 and Eye Care

Nag Rao, MD

On May 27 in Geneva, the World Health Assembly (WHA) adopted a resolution that calls for countries and the World Health Organization (WHO) to provide more support for the VISION 2020 global initiative specifically and for prevention of avoidable blindness and visual impairment and eye care in general.

The resolution adopted by the WHA in Geneva asks Member States (countries) to:

• reinforce efforts to define national VISION 2020 plans
• mobilize domestic funding to support VISION 2020
• include prevention of blindness in national development plans and goals
• integrate prevention of blindness into primary health care
• encourage public and private partnerships
• develop and strengthen eye care services and integrate them in the existing health care system, including training and re-training of health workers in visual health
• make available the essential medicines and supplies needed for eye care.

More on the WHA resolution below.

- Nag Rao, MD, Council Member and President of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB)

3. WHA Resolution Asks WHO To Give Priority to Prevention of Blindness

• give priority to prevention of avoidable blindness and visual impairment
• provide necessary support to Member States, particularly for training eye care personnel
• strengthen regional, subregional and international cooperation
• monitor progress on VISION 2020 and report every three years.

The draft resolution was amended in Geneva to also ask WHO to:

• ensure that prevention of blindness is included in implementation and monitoring of WHO`s Eleventh General Programme of Work
• add prevention of blindness activities to WHO's medium-term strategic plan 2008-2013 and proposed programme budget 2008-2009.

I wish to thank our partners who lobbied at various levels in different countries throughout the World and created a mammoth movement of solidarity for "VISION CARE." This, indeed, augurs well for the future of prevention of blindness and vision care.

- Nag Rao, MD, Council Member and President of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB)

4. ICO Urges Societies To Recognize World Sight Day

Hugh Taylor, MD

The ICO urges members of the International Federation of Ophthalmological Societies (IFOS) and other ophthalmologic societies and leaders to initiate or participate in activities to mark World Sight Day, which will be October 12 this year.

World Sight Day aims to raise awareness that 75 percent of blindness worldwide results from preventable and/or treatable causes, and to encourage governments, corporations and other funding sources to invest in blindness prevention. The economic cost of global blindness is estimated at US$28 billion per year.

Low Vision and Refractive Error is the theme this year, recognizing the 124 million people in the world who have low vision, and many millions more who are functionally blind due to uncorrected refractive error.

For a variety of resources to help you recognize World Sight Day, see: www.v2020.org/world_sight_day/index.asp.

You may want to contact your national prevention of blindness agency to see what they already have planned.

- Hugh Taylor, MD, ICO Advocacy Director

5. What Should Be the Top Priorities for the ICO/IFOS?

ICO/IFOS Forum on the Future

Thanks to all of you who have contributed your ideas for ICO/IFOS strategic planning so far.

We have posted two critical questions in the "Forum on the Future" on the ICO Web site, and I would very much appreciate hearing your answers:

• What should be the main purpose of the ICO/IFOS? What is the ultimate outcome it should work to achieve (e.g., better public access to eye care, enhanced ophthalmic education, stronger ophthalmologic societies, etc.)?
• What should be the top priorities for action by the ICO/IFOS in the next five years (e.g., focus on training in developing countries, develop models for use by societies, etc.)?

To answer, please go to the Forum at www.icoph.org/plan and click on "comments " below each of these questions. Type in your comments, select "Other" and enter your name. Or, you can select "Anonymous" if you prefer. It is quick and easy to respond.

If you have not done so already, I would also encourage you to answer the previous questions we asked in the Forum: on trends that will impact ophthalmology and eye care, strengths and weaknesses of the ICO/IFOS and the needs of ophthalmologists and ophthalmologic societies. Just scroll down the page to those questions.

All responses will be distributed to participants in the ICO/IFOS strategic planning session in Zurich at the beginning of July.

- Bruce Spivey, MD, ICO President

6. Online Registry for International Volunteers

Dunbar, Hoskins, MD

The Foundation of the American Academy of Ophthalmology has established an international EyeCare Volunteer Registry (EVR) online at www.eyecarevolunteer.org.

The EVR matches eye care professionals who are interested in volunteering to provide care in developing countries with organizations and institutions that are looking for help.

Registered volunteers will find information on volunteer sites that match their skills and interests. Registered organizations will find information on volunteers with the particular expertise that is needed.

The EVR is designed so that:

• ophthalmologists can find out about potential sites and contact them directly
• registered organizations and institutions can contact potential volunteers
• names, addresses and other information about volunteers is kept confidential; they decide whether or not to provide it to registered organizations.

For more, see www.eyecarevolunteer.org or contact Wendy Ovaitt, Manager of International Assistance for the Foundation, at wovaitt@aao.org.

- H. Dunbar Hoskins, MD, ICO Member and Chair of the Advisory Committee to the ICO

7. Next ICO and IFOS Meetings and World Ophthalmology Congress (WOC)

• International Council of Ophthalmology: March 23, 2007, Cape Town, South Africa
• WOC: June 28 - July 2, 2008 in Hong Kong (www.woc2008hongkong.org)
• IFOS General Assembly: during the WOC in Hong Kong

Other future ICO/IFOS Meetings: www.icoph.org/lead/icomeet.html.

8. Coming in the July ICO Leader Letter:

New ICO Clinical Guideline on Trachoma

9. 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.

10. 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.

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 [contact-Email]. 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/leader0606.html. For previous issues, go to www.icoph.org/news/letters.html.

Back to the top

Copyright © 2006 International Council of Ophthalmology. All rights reserved.
945 Green Street, San Francisco, CA 94133, USA