On World Diabetes Day, Annike Spiller, The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust on how the Trust is tackling blindness caused by diabetes in India. India is home to the highest number of people with diabetes in the Commonwealth. It’s the country’s fastest growing disease, affecting nearly 73 million people. Diabetes and its impact Diabetes can be…
Bhutan is one of the countries where a previous nationwide blindness survey exists and can be compared with the latest, the Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness (RAAB) Survey 2018. The 2018 survey’s sampling frame covered the population aged 50 years and older, across all 20 districts of the kingdom. The first RAAB survey in Bhutan…
Operation Eyesight Universal (OEU), along with IAPB, visited Maldives and Sri Lanka to explore the feasibility of extending support to strengthen eye health service delivery there. In the second week of November, I accompanied a team from Operation Eyesight Universal to explore opportunities for improving eye health services in Sri Lanka and Maldives, two countries…
At IAPB Council of Member’s meeting the South East Asia (SEA) Day was attended by almost 300 participants from over 70 organisations throughout the globe. It is considered as one of the biggest IAPB CoM meeting. The meeting was divided into seven sessions: Setting the tone, Cataract, Glaucoma, Uncorrected Refractive Error, Diabetic Retinopathy, Cornea and…
IAPB would like to welcome two new Group C members to our coalition – Dr. K. Zaman BNSB Eye Hospital and Deep Eye Care Foundation (DECF) both work in the South East Asia Region in Bangladesh. Dr. K. Zaman BNSB Eye Hospital, Bangladesh Dr. K. Zaman BNSB Eye Hospital is a voluntary, non-governmental and no-profit…
One of the major problems in prevention, accurate diagnosis and treatment of eye diseases is the lack of trained human resources. To address this issue, the L V Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) is offering two courses in Community Eye Health. Diploma in Community Eye Health (DCEH) The course aims to impart knowledge and skills required…
In recent years, IAPB South East Asia (SEA) advocacy has expanded to all countries in the region. The most recent wins being the first-ever RAAB survey in Maldives and follow-up RAAB in Timor-Leste with financial support from Lions Club International Foundation (LCIF). The collaboration with WHO-SEARO, and WHO country offices of respective countries have been another success for the implementation of…
IAPB would like to welcome three new Group C members to our coalition, Conselho Brasileiro De Oftalmologia – CBO, Pushpagiri Vitreo Retina Institute and Japan National Society for the Prevention of Blindness. Conselho Brasileiro De Oftalmologia – CBO joined IAPB in April. Founded in 1941, the Brazilian Council of Ophthalmology (CBO) is a scientific and cultural…
Poverty is a cause and effect of visual and other disabilities that increases social divide. Eradicating avoidable blindness enhances productivity. It thus impacts the many millions who are stuck in the vicious cycle of poverty and poverty-induced disability. Cataract remains the main cause of avoidable blindness across the world. If treated late or left untreated,…
At Seeing is Believing (SiB), we are always keen to find innovative ways to share learning from SiB projects and build networks between partners. Based on the success of our webinars held in 2016, we decided to continue this exciting learning opportunity. In April 2017 we held webinars on the theme of sustainability. The aims of…
Visual impairment and blindness is a serious public health problem in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (South East Asia). While they have made significant strides in trachoma elimination; cataract still remains a problem, responsible for 60% of all blindness. The National Eye Heath Plan 2017-2021(NEPH), the country’s first national strategic plan for eye…
In our fourth blog for World Glaucoma Week, James Muecke, an Ophthalmologist, an IAPB Eye Health Hero and Chairman for Sight For All, writes about the need for training for glaucoma in Asia, highlighting what they are doing. James Muecke AM teaching fellows Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide and over half of the…
In our third blog for World Glaucoma Week, Dr Krishnadas, a senior consultant in the glaucoma services at Aravind Eye Care System writes about the need for glaucoma training and what Aravind is doing. Dr Krishnadas with a fellowship student Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness in India and Asia, as in the rest of the…
Children of Cataract/ Photo courtesy: Julia Gunther for the #StrongerTogether photo competition March 8th is International Women’s Day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. This day is also used to emphasise the need for gender equality. So, we shine light on the health inequities women face through a series of blogposts…
On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the Fred Hollows Foundation (courtesy Alison Carmody, Zara Khair and Bonnie Skinner) shines light on the work they are doing in Bangladesh to make eye care more accessible for women. Women in rural Bangladesh following an outreach eye camp/ Photo courtesy: The Fred Hollows Foundation Standard Chartered Bank’s…
At IAPB we are very keen to promote prevalence surveys on eye health, most often the Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness (RAAB) method, as an important advocacy tool to inform health policy makers and planners. As governments face ever increasing demands on health budgets, the case for eye health services needs to be heard. Local…
In 2016, I worked with the Ministry of Health (MoH) Timor-Leste to carry out a national representative blindness and visual impairment survey there. The survey was carried out with generous financial support from Lions Club International Foundation, technical support from International Agency for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), South East Asia Region and local financial administration…
Timor-Leste in South East Asia–current listed as one of the poorest nations in the world—became an independent state in 1999. The country is divided into 13 administrative districts and 65 sub districts with a predominantly rural population of 1,257, 613 (Census data 2010) people. Timor-Leste has one referral hospital, in Dili, the capital. The hospital…
I am delighted to report back from a successful ‘dissemination workshop’ for data from the first-ever population based RAAB survey in Maldives. The workshop was organized by the WHO country office in Maldives and was graced by the honorable Minister of Health Her Excellency Ms Iruthisham Adam, Dr Tara Prasad Das, IAPB SEA Regional Chair, Prof. Henry Adala, LCIF Technical Advisor, Africa, Deputy Ministers and policy makers of Maldives and other eye care colleagues from the island nation.
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