New Magrabi – ICO Cameroon Eye Center
Posted on August 20, 2010
Topic: Education, Eye Care
Region: Africa
The ICO has announced plans to establish the Magrabi–ICO Cameroon Eye Center, a regional training center in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
It will be built and developed by the ICO, the Al Noor Magrabi Foundation, and the That Every Life May Count Foundation, with links to the department of Ophthalmology of the University of Yaoundé and the Cameroon Ministry of Health.
For some time, the ICO has recognized a particular need to enhance ophthalmic training in Francophone Africa. In December 2009, a group of ICO officers and Board Members travelled to Yaoundé at the invitation of Cameroonian Daniel Etya’ale, MD, to meet with local leaders and officials to discuss how to improve training in the region.
“The purpose of the Magrabi–ICO Cameroon Eye Center is to train ophthalmologists and staff in Cameroon and French-Speaking Central West Africa to become the next generation of leaders and to provide high quality services with subspecialties and outreach programs, minimizing the need to send patients abroad,” said Jean-Jacques DeLaey, MD, ICO Secretary General.
Akef El-Maghraby, MD, ICO’s Vice President and a principal donor, presented an overview of the new eye center at the recent ICO Board of Trustees meeting in Berlin: http://www.icoph.org/downloads/MagrabiICOCameroonEyeCenter.pdf (PDF – 2.1 MB).
