Transcript Diapositiva 1

Rainald Duerksen, MD
Chairman VISION 2020 Latin America
September, 2006
ADVOCACY
VISION 2020 Latin America
When it was formally established in Buenos Aires in 2001 not a single country (19
in total including the Spanish speaking ones in the Caribbean with the exception of
Puerto Rico) in the region had signed the global declaration of support, there was
not a single country with a National Prevention of Blindness Committee/VISION
2020 that included Government participation.
As of September 2006:
1) National PBL/VISION 2020 Committees:
2) Signed Global Declaration:
3) Established a National Plan:
4) Have attended VISION 2020 Workshops:
13
15
10
19
ADVOCACY
- An average of 8 CEH courses take place throughout the region every
year
- Established it’s own website in the three languages of the region
(English, Portuguese and Spanish): www.v2020la.org
ADVOCACY
- Established it’s own quarterly bulletin in June 2005, also in three
languages www.v2020la.org
ADVOCACY
Has it’s own dedicated PBL meeting not associated to any other major ophthalmology
event, the first one in Buenos Aires in 2002 and the next one to take place in
Barranquilla in October 2006
ADVOCACY
Dr. Duerksen, Regional IAPB Chair participated as an official member of the
Paraguayan Delegation to the WHA of May 2006 in Geneva
Makes available via it’s web site, the VISION 2020 Tool kit.
Almost every single country now has at least one VISION 2020 “contact” person.
Has promoted various World Sight Day activities and this year has translated and
made available the related Posters in English and Portuguese.
ADVOCACY
Titles of the three chapters accepted in “The Americas Lens” book to be published
late September 2006 by ALACSSA
THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF CATARACT AND BLINDNESS
Introduction
Cataracts are the end result of irreversible changes in the transparency of the eye lens that left
unchecked, cause impaired vision and blindness. This process can occur in a matter of months, but
typically takes several years and is most related to the age of the individual.
CATARACT: FIRST CAUSE OF AVOIDABLE BLINDNESS
WORLDWIDE
Introduction
The number of blind persons in the world grew rapidly between 1972 and
1990 from an estimated 10-15 million to 38 million in 1990,1 although
according to Resnikoff et al this figure had not significantly changed for the
period from 1990 to 2002.
VISION 2020: The Right to Sight
Introduction
In the 1990s, many ophthalmologists recognized that in developing
countries, ophthalmic diseases and problems were continuing to take a
devastating toll on individuals in terms of blindness, impaired vision, and
the associated sequelae, which includes economic hardship.
ADVOCACY
Article accepted in Ocular Surgery News for October 2006
Cataract surgical rates falling short in Latin America
Higher productivity and better allocation of resources are needed to meet the goal of
VISION 2020 to eradicate avoidable blindness in the developing world, according to
the organization’s co-chair and the coordinator for the region. by Van C. Lansingh,
MD, PhD and Rainald Duerksen, MD special to ocular surgery news
Cataract surgical rates (CSR) are currently below those necessary to clear surgical
backlogs in all Latin American countries in order to meet VISION 2020 goals, which
should be in the order of 3.000 per million.
The aging of the global population has exacerbated the prevalence of visual
impairment, and in response, the World Health Organization and the International
Agency for the Prevention of Blindness joined forces in 1999 to launch VISION 2020:
the Right to Sight initiative.
HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT
Promotes with the help of NGOs (especially CBM) various courses and provides
technical expertise in collaboration with PAHO through its technical subcommittees: Cataract, Diabetic Retinopathy, Monitoring and Evaluation, Childhood
Blindness/ROP, Low Vision, Refractive Errors, Advocacy and resource
Mobilization. Each sub-committee also has created a country by country
situational analysis and plan.
In Brazil, helped develop a CEH curriculum for residencies currently being trialed
in several programmes.
Makes available (thanks to the generous support of the Ptolemy Project of the
University of Toronto) updated articles of peer reviewed journal in our web site.
Various key documents, publications and educational photographs are made
available through the web site
HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT
Through the generous donations of ICEH, ORBIS International and Vision
Paraguay, this month we have made available the
first pilot edition of the Journal of Community Eye
Health in Spanish with the second
volume due out in December 2006.
Which is also available in the web site.
Brazilian Doctors have participated as faculty in
CEH courses in Africa and Hill commence training
ophthalmologists in this country with a special
government permit)
MONITORING AND EVALUATION
- In collaboration with CBM and PAHO, helped conduct RACSS studies providing
valuable epidemiology information in: Paraguay, Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil,
Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, Peru and Colombia. Many have been or are in the
process of being published in peer reviewed journals.
- Provides WHO regular updates in VISION 2020 Implementation Data
MONITORING AND EVALUATION
- In Collaboration with ORBIS commenced and regularly updates an ambitious
country by country indicators which include economic data, various health
indicators, most of the VISION 2020 related indicators, etc. made available
through it’s web site.