Set against a backdrop of coalescing opportunities to change the lives of the billion plus people affected by uncorrected vision, I hosted a session focused on driving access and affordability of glasses at IAPB’s Council of Members. With new sets of actors within the eye health landscape, the publication of the WHO’s World Report on…
The resolution WHA71.8 – Improving access to assistive technology calls upon WHO to prepare a global report on effective access to assistive technology (GREAT Report) by 2021. Complementing the World Report on Vision, the GREAT report will be a major tool in spearheading change to overcome the massive unmet need in access to assistive technologies,…
The theme of this year’s World Health Day is universal health coverage (UHC). Momentum is building around universal health coverage, that is, health for all without suffering financial hardship, with many countries around the world taking steps to achieve it. Eye health has historically not been conceived as being central to healthcare, the priority has…
Every person should be able to access quality health services without suffering financial hardship. Each year IAPB lends its support to Universal Health Coverage Day recognising the critical need to improve health services and health access particularly in lower income countries. Universal Health Coverage day is celebrated on 12 December. It is the anniversary of…
The Global Disability Summit, the first of its kind was held on July 24th at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London. It was hosted by the UK’s Department for International Development, the government of Kenya and the International Disability Alliance. The Summit aimed to vastly increase the pace breadth and depth of implementation of…
The 71st World Health Assembly (#WHA71), the annual decision-making body of the WHO, took place in Geneva on 21st-26thMay. Johannes Trimmel, Peter Holland and I attended, participated in numerous events, and met key WHO officials and other players. The mood was positive and optimistic: WHO Director General Dr Tedros and the new team were successful…
IAPB is a strong believer and advocate for Universal Health Coverage and supporter of UHCDay. We must all work to ensure that people have access to health services including eye health (all the way from promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care) without having to make horrific choices, such as which child/family member gets…
IAPB is an associate member of the International Disability and Development Consortium. IAPB has been working with the IDDC for the past few years alongside some IAPB members promoting the rights of persons with disability, including persons with visual impairment. We have been and continue to be active on the IDDC UN task group including in…
IAPB has been active in influencing the development of the WHO Global Strategy and Action Plan on Ageing and Health (GSAP) to be considered for adoption this May at the World Health Assembly. This has included contributing to consultations with some issues successfully taken up. Speaking with members of the WHO ageing and life-course team at…
Join IAPB in celebrating and promoting the second Universal Health Coverage Day (#HealthForAll) on 12th December. Universal health coverage is of such importance as it is grounded in rights and thus responsibility of governments to uphold them, in strengthening health systems, and in improving health promotion and health services of all people particularly those otherwise unable to pay for health care or unable to access health care. If done right UHC can be, as Margaret Chan has called it, a major equalizer.
One of the most striking aspects I’ve witnessed on my visits to projects with IAPB is how committed the eye health personnel are, in spite of often having to work in extremely difficult and overstretched conditions. Whether in Africa, Asia, or elsewhere, it is evident how crucial all members of the team are to the…
Join IAPB and hundreds of organisations around the world who have signed up to universal health coverage (UHC) day on the 12th December. The push for UHC creates a major opportunity to radically improve health access and outcomes for all people everywhere, tackling the gross health inequalities that persist. In effect UHC accounts for the…
In late June I visited Vietnam to work together with Damian Facciolo, (Regional Program Manager, IAPB Western Pacific) to deliver an advocacy workshop in Hanoi, with support from Australian Aid. During the workshop we discussed key problems and objectives. We worked to help NGOs on Vietnam’s Eye Care Partners Working Group to come up with…
The Diabetic Retinopathy Barometer project is gathering information on DR specifically on health practitioners’ and patients’ awareness of Diabetic Retinopathy and access to needed treatment and services, across 40 countries globally. I attended the Press Launch on DME and on the DR Barometer Project, supported by Bayer, in Madrid on 12th May, to speak about…
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