News of the ICO, Ophthalmology and Vision:

Report on the 2004 Council Meeting in New Orleans

Council meeting news headlines:

• IFOS will expand to include subspecialty societies
  
  
• WHO reports progress on reducing blindness
  
  
• New data on visual impairment
  
  
• American Academy will host 2012 Congress in Chicago
  
  
• International Congress will be renamed "World Ophthalmology Congress"
  
  
• Council considers name change for ICO and IFOS
  
  
• Council approves Ophthalmic Pathology Award, Bietti and Krwawicz Medals
  
  
• Subcommittee defining ethical principles and guidelines
  
  
• ICO to focus on areas that lack ophthalmic services
  
  
• Standards Committee evaluating vision requirements for driving
  
  
• Ophthalmologists must lead eye care
  
  
• Implementation of VISION 2020 moves to the national level
  
  
• Follow-up on ICO visit to Nigerian residency programs
  
  
• Task Force defining guidelines for Continuing Professional Development
  
  
• Course for residency program directors in Mexico
  
  
• Brazil Congress organizers stress the scientific program
  
  
• 107 ophthalmologists have received IFOS/ICO Fellowships
  
  
• Pilot projects to raise awareness of ICO Clinical Guidelines
  
  
• ICOFoundation supports ophthalmic education and ICO Assessments

(Also see: More News)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.

IFOS will expand to include subspecialty societies

The International Federation of Ophthalmological Societies (IFOS) will expand to include subspecialty societies, as a result of a unanimous vote at the IFOS General Assembly in New Orleans on October 23, 2004.

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.

Specific criteria for society membership are still being defined, 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 also represented on the Advisory Committee to the ICO, which also met in New Orleans, prior to the Joint Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and European Society of Ophthalmology.

(Also see: More News from the IFOS General Assembly)

WHO reports progress on reducing blindness

Efforts to reduce blindness throughout the world are paying off, World Health Organization (WHO) Representative and Advisory Committee member Ramachandra Pararajasegaram, MD, told the International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) when it met October 22 in New Orleans.

Dr. Pararajasegaram said new data 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.

New data on visual impairment

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.

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: http://www.who.int/entity/bulletin/volumes/82/11/en/844.pdf.

American Academy will host 2012 Congress in Chicago

At its meeting October 22 in New Orleans, the ICO accepted an invitation from the American Academy of Ophthalmology to host the 2012 International Congress of Ophthalmology (World Ophthalmology Congress).

The joint meeting will be November 10 - 13, 2012 in Chicago.

International Congress will be renamed "World Ophthalmology Congress"

The Council voted unanimously in New Orleans to change the name of the International Congress of Ophthalmology to the "World Ophthalmology Congress."

Congress organizers recommended the change to help them distinguish the meeting from the many other international congresses.

Council considers name change for ICO and IFOS

The Council also discussed possible changes in the names of both the ICO and IFOS but did not adopt a recommendation to IFOS.

A majority of the Council voted in favor of changing the names to "World Ophthalmology Council" and "World Ophthalmology Federation," but the issue will be considered again when the ICO meets next, May 11, 2005 in Florence, prior to the 3rd International Congress of the Italian Society of Ophthalmology (SOI).

If the Council decides to recommend changes in the names, they would need to be approved by IFOS when it meets February 21, 2006 in São Paulo, Brazil.

Council approves Ophthalmic Pathology Award, Bietti and Krwawicz Medals

The Council approved presentation of three additional medals/awards at opening sessions of the World Ophthalmology Congress (previously International Congress of Ophthalmology):

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

The Council also approved guidelines for the awarding of medals at the Congresses. No more than five medals will be presented during the opening ceremonies of any one Congress.

Subcommittee defining ethical principles and guidelines

At its meeting in New Orleans, the Advisory Committee to the ICO discussed a report from its Ethics Subcommittee, which had reviewed codes of ethics for ophthalmologists from around the world and surveyed national ophthalmologic societies about ethical codes.

The Subcommittee advised that it would be difficult to define a code of ethics that would be appropriate for all different countries and cultures. However, it suggested, a statement of ethical principles and guidelines from the ICO may be of value to ophthalmological societies that want to define their own code of ethics.

The report of the Ethics Subcommittee will be submitted to a professional medical ethicist for comments, revised and then resubmitted to the Council. The Ethics Subcommittee is chaired by Pinar Aydin, MD, PhD, with Pran Nagpal, MD, and Antonio G. Secchi, MD as members.

ICO to focus on areas that lack ophthalmic services

The Council agreed with a recommendation from its Advisory Committee that the ICO focus on improving the availability of ophthalmic services in areas of the world where services are limited, in collaboration with appropriate partners.

At the IFOS meeting, Hannah Faal, MD, encouraged the ICO/IFOS to explore how it can support ophthalmologists in countries where are the too few ophthalmologists to support formation of a national society.

Standards Committee evaluating vision requirements for driving

The Council discussed a preliminary report on "Visual Requirements and Safe Driving" prepared by ICO Committee on Standards Chairman Jean-Jacques DeLaey, MD, and Standards Committee Member August Colenbrander, MD.

The report summarizes data on vision requirements for driving in different countries, which vary widely. For public safety, the report says, it may be helpful to work toward standardizing visual requirements for driving around the world.

However, there are significant questions about what aspects of vision should be tested, and it is important to consider the profound impact that vision requirements have on individuals and countries.

The Committee is seeking additional input and will report back to the Council when it meets in May 2005.

Ophthalmologists must lead eye care

At its meeting in New Orleans, the Council discussed the concerted initiative of the profession of optometry to expand its scope of practice worldwide, including obtaining authority to perform surgery, which has been adopted in some countries.

Council members agreed that ophthalmology in general and national ophthalmologic societies specifically should lead efforts to develop eye care teams to meet the needs of the public.

Part of that process should be defining what it is appropriate for different providers to do, Council members suggested, but that must be based on local needs and resources.

Implementation of VISION 2020 moves to the national level

Gullapalli N. (Nag) Rao, MD, new president of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) and member of the ICO, reported to the Council on the progress of VISION 2020: The Right to Sight, the global initiative that aims to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020, which was launched in 1999.

Plans for implementation of VISION 2020 have been defined in each of the six WHO regions, and national plans have been defined in at least 10 countries, Dr. Rao said.

The ICO encourages ophthalmologic societies and individual ophthalmologists to get involved in the definition of their national VISION 2020 plans.

A revised toolkit for developing national, provincial and local VISION 2020 action plans is available on a CD and at: http://www.v2020.org/toolkit/Toolkit2/start.htm.

Follow-up on ICO visit to Nigerian residency programs

Council Member Adenike Abiose, MD, reported at the International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) meeting and International Federation of Ophthalmological Societies (IFOS) General Assembly in New Orleans in October 2004 on follow-up to the visit of ICO members to Nigeria the previous March 29 - April 5.

The Council members toured residency programs and met with the leaders of the Ophthalmological Society of Nigeria (OSN) and the Nigerian Minister of Health.

Among the critical issues identified from the visit, Dr. Abiose reported, are:

• Low patient volume and inadequate hands-on training for ophthalmology residents in all public institutions
  
  
• Lack of subspecialty training and subspecialty trained faculty
  
  
• An urgent need for up-to-date information through broadband Internet access, books and journals
  
  
• Need for essential ophthalmic equipment in training centers
  
  
• Need for collaboration among many groups to enhance training.

Dr. Abiose reported on commitments and follow-up action being taken by the ICO, training institutions, postgraduate colleges, the Ophthalmological Society of Nigeria and the Ministry of Health.

The ICOFoundation has committed $US 25,000 to support the purchase of hardware for Internet access and information technologies for residency programs, Dr. Abiose said. The ICO will also contribute and is exploring opportunities for applied research to enhance ophthalmic education and eye care in Nigeria.

Task Force defining guidelines for Continuing Professional Development

Frank Martin, MD, chair of the ICO Education Committee's Task Force on Ophthalmology Continuing Education, presented draft "Principles and Guidelines for Continuing Professional Development (CPD)" to the Council in New Orleans.

The document is intended to help ophthalmologic societies develop effective programs to support Continuing Professional Development (CPD) (formerly called "Continuing Medical Education" - CME) for their members.

It includes proposed principles and elements of a CPD Program, categorization of CPD activities, and guidelines for administration and management and ophthalmologic society approved CPD activities.

The "Principles and Guidelines" will be revised based on feedback received in New Orleans and then posted for comment on the ICO Web site.

Course for residency program directors in Mexico

Enrique Graue, MD; Bradley R. Straatsma, MD, JD; and Bruce E. Spivey, MD, reported to the Council on a course for the directors of all residency programs in Mexico co-sponsored by the ICO in June 2004.

Participants agreed that the course was a great success and would be an excellent model for implementation by other national and supranational societies. The Pan-American Association of Ophthalmology is considering organizing a similar course.

For more information, contact Dr. Graue at: egrauew@yahoo.com.

(Also see: More News of Ophthalmic Education from the ICO and IFOS meetings)

Brazil Congress organizers stress the scientific program

Organizers of the next World Ophthalmology Congress, February 19 - 24, 2006 in São Paulo, Brazil, are focusing on creating an excellent scientific program, Congress President Rubens Belfort, MD, reported to the Council in New Orleans.

Stephen Ryan, MD, a former secretary of the Pan American Association of Ophthalmology, will chair the scientific program committee and will work with all international subspecialty societies, according to Dr. Belfort.

107 ophthalmologists have received IFOS/ICO Fellowships

IFOS/ICO Fellowships have been awarded to 107 ophthalmologists from 38 countries since the program was started in 2001, Fellowship Director Balder Gloor, MD, reported to the Council and IFOS.

Fellowships are now available from 56 institutions in 24 countries.

The Fellowships were organized to help young ophthalmologists, especially those from developing nations, improve their practical skills and broaden their perspectives of ophthalmology.

Fellows are expected to bring the acquired knowledge and skills back to their country of origin and take part in programs to preserve and restore vision in their country.

Fellowships are awarded twice a year, and April 30 and October 31 are the deadlines to apply.

Pilot projects to raise awareness of ICO Clinical Guidelines

The ICO Guidelines Committee is developing pilot projects to increase awareness of the ICO's International Clinical Guidelines and to make them available to ophthalmologists who may not have Internet access, Guidelines Director Richard L. Abbott, MD, reported in New Orleans.

Ten of the Guidelines have been translated into Chinese, and the Guidelines were the focus of a two-day symposium in Wuhan, China in September 2004 at the time of the Ninth Congress of the Chinese Ophthalmological Society.

Additional Guidelines will be added to the ICO Web site in the coming year.

ICOFoundation supports ophthalmic education and ICO Assessments

The International Council of Ophthalmology Foundation, established in 2002, has already provided significant support for ICO/IFOS programs, thanks to generous donations from individuals, foundations and corporations, ICOFoundation President, Bradley R. Straatsma, MD, JD, reported to the Council and IFOS.

Among the programs the ICOFoundation has supported, Dr. Straatsma reported, are:

• Initiatives to enhance ophthalmology residency education, including the June course for residency program directors in Mexico and information technology for residency programs in Nigeria
  
  
• Distribution of ICO Curriculum Guidelines for residency education and for medical student education in ophthalmology
  
  
• IFOS/ICO International Fellowships
  
  
• ICO Basic and Clinical Assessments.

The ICOFoundation Board of Directors met October 23, 2004 in New Orleans and welcomed Neil Levine, Senior Director and Group Leader for Ophthalmology and Endocrine Care at Pfizer Global Pharmaceuticals, to the Board.

For more information on the ICOFoundation see http://www.icofoundation.org or contact Dr. Straatsma at straatsma@jsei.ucla.edu.

Next: More News of the ICO, ophthalmology and vision