One ophthalmologist from each of the 640 districts in India will attend the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) 9th General Assembly (9GA) this September. Themed Eye Health: Everyone’s Business the event will also bring together ophthalmologists, optometrists, public health specialists and other professionals involved in blindness prevention, from around the world.
The aim of the Assembly is to provide a conduit for cutting-edge developments to reach the millions of people living in india affected by avoidable blindness. An estimated 12 million of the country’s 1.12 billion people are blind and an additional 456 million require vision correction. 80 per cent of that blindness is avoidable.
Dr. Gullapalli N Rao, Chairman of the L V Prasad Eye Institute and a Past President of IAPB said the 9GA will provide ophthalmologists with practical skills and the latest knowledge they can take back to their districts, enabling improvements to be implemented in existing programmes.
“It has the potential to ultimately facilitate thousands more people having their sight restored and blindness prevented,” he said.
With forty courses, lectures and symposia, presented by 150 of the world’s leading experts on blindness prevention and low vision, the 9GA will present new approaches and practical solutions to improving eye care. Topics will include global blindness prevention, cataract, refractive error, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, childhood blindness, corneal blindness and eye banking. Delegates will also learn of the progress being made towards the goal of VISION 2020: The Right to Sight (IAPB’s joint initiative with the World Health Organization for the elimination of avoidable blindness).
Ophthalmologists and other eye care professionals, who are unable to attend the 9GA, have the opportunity to submit questions to the Corporate Social Responsibility panel, which will be held on 19 September. The international panel of experts from global corporations will respond to questions chosen from those posted on Facebook (VISION 2020/IAPB) and Twitter (@VISION2020_IAPB), and posed during the session.
IAPB takes place in Hyderabad from 17-20 September 2012. For details or to register please visit www.9ga.iapb.org
