Interactive workshop: “Leaving no-one behind: strengthening inclusion and equity in eye health”

CBM and Sightsavers warmly welcome everyone to a free interactive workshop on “Leaving no-one behind: strengthening inclusion and equity in eye health” on 3-4 October, prior to IAPB Council of Members Meeting, in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.

• We will share evidence based background information and experience of making eye health services more inclusive and accessible for people with disabilities and other marginalised peoples.
• We will share tools and practical approaches, and hear case studies outlining both successes and challenges from several organisations working in different contexts, including Disabled People’s Organisations.
• We will hear from people with lived experience of disability and other marginalisation, concerning their interactions with and recommendations to eye care and other health services.
• There will be interactive sessions and ample opportunity to discuss key barriers and proposed solutions for strengthened access to eye health services, with quality outcomes, in a range of contexts.
• We will discuss seeking best outcomes for people with long term vision impairment, for whom medical intervention is not an option.

Background

We note that people with disabilities comprise 15% of the world’s population, with 80% living in low to middle-income countries^[1]. People with disabilities are among the poorest and most marginalised people globally, and are more likely to experience poorer health outcomes than their peers without disabilities^[2].

Furthermore we note that in communities with a high prevalence of disability, there are generally many other factors contributing to marginalisation including: poverty level, gender, HIV status, ethnicity, religious group, being a refugee, being a survivor of disaster, level of education, and the intersection of these and other factors.

We need to learn from each other to ensure we “leave no-one behind”.

^[1] https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld

² https://www.who.int/blindness/actionplan/en/

Please click here to register.

For further information please email David Lewis, CBM on [email protected] or Dr Imran Khan, Sightsavers on [email protected]

Thursday 3^rd – Friday 4^th October 2019

Hyatt Regency, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Free attendance –Click here to register by 18 September 2019 (Please act now! Places are limited)

Image on top: A teacher and her pupils as they walk just outside their classrooms during recess at Rajaf School for the Blind/Photo credit: Luca Catalano Gonzaga