The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) is an overarching alliance for the global eye care sector. Their 150+ members are drawn from NGOs and civil society, corporate organisations, professional bodies and research and eye care institutions.

They were founded in 1975 to lead international efforts in blindness prevention activities.

Their priorities are:

• Advocacy: Advocating for eye health globally so it receives the attention and resources needed to achieve universal access to eye care;
• Partnerships: Building coalitions and partnerships to mobilise action and generate change at a global and local level; and
• Knowledge: Providing authoritative data and information on eye health enabling the sharing of knowledge and experience to promote the development of good policy and practice.

The IAPB publishes a number of resources, some of which are highlighted below. The IAPB maintains a comprehensive website, which can be accessed by clicking here.

IAPB Resource Highlights

Word report on vision: This report is the cornerstone of IAPB’s global advocacy strategy. It provides a critical moment to inform and persuade global leaders about the magnitude and unacceptability of unavoidable vision loss globally.

The World Report on Vision seeks to generate greater awareness and increased political will and investment to strengthen eye care globally. The report offers clear proposals to address significant challenges in delivering eye care through existing health systems. It builds on the concerted efforts of the past thirty years to propose an integrated, people-centred eye care that strengthens health systems and meets population needs.

IAPB Webinar Repository. IAPB Webinars are a great way for to learn, connect and grow with help from the IAPB community. Here you will find links to videos from webinars past, and also list information on the webinars lined up for the future. This page also includes links to Seeing is Believing webinars.

Talks Eye-Inspire: The Eye-Inspire series will bring you the inspiration and scientific stimuli that has propelled forward some of the brightest minds in eye health. The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) brings you a series of interviews – written, audio and video –speaking to individuals from the eye care sector, whose work continues to inspire us all. Using video and other media, IAPB will present one individual per episode. The individual will list 4-5 scientific papers that have most influenced them and their work, and explain how these key scientific milestones have pushed their careers – and as a consequence, the sector’s knowledge – ahead in innovative, new directions. 

Seva Canada is a charity whose mission is to restore sight and prevent blindness in developing countries. Their new Gender and Blindness booklet is updated with research and strategies to overcome the barriers women and girls face in accessing care.

Introduction

Seva Canada and its partners’ research clearly reveals that, in order to achieve our Vision 2020 goals , eye care programs must develop strategies which help us reach the most vulnerable populations – particularly women and girls. We encourage our program partners to disaggregate data by sex, determine gender-specific barriers to increased uptake of services, and study strategies to increase utilization by women and girls. Seva looks forward to collaborating with all international eye care providers to eliminate all forms of inequities in eye care.

To view the Seva Canada booklet Gender and Blindness: Addressing Inequity, click here.

Read the full article through the Canadian Journal of Ophthalmology website: Full Article

Authors

Rumaisa Aljied, BSc; Marie-Josée Aubin, MD, MSc, MPH; Ralf Buhrmann, MD, PhD; Saama Sabeti, MD; Ellen E. Freeman, PhD

Abstract

Objective

To determine the prevalence and determinants of visual impairment in Canada.

Methods

Inclusion criteria included being between the ages of 45 and 85 years old, community-dwelling, and living near one of the 11 data collection sites across 7 Canadian provinces. People were excluded if they were in an institution, living on a First Nations reserve, were a full-time member of the Canadian Armed Forces, did not speak French or English, or had cognitive impairment. Visual acuity was measured using the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) chart while participants wore their usual prescription for distance, if any. Visual impairment was defined as presenting binocular acuity worse than 20/40.

Results

Of Canadian adults, 5.7% (95% CI 5.4–6.0) had visual impairment. A wide variation in the provincial prevalence of visual impairment was observed ranging from a low of 2.4% (95% CI 2.0–3.0) in Manitoba to a high of 10.9% (95% CI 9.6–12.2) in Newfoundland and Labrador. Factors associated with a higher odds of visual impairment included older age (odds ratio [OR] = 1.07, 95% CI 1.06–1.08), lower income (OR = 2.07 for those earning less than $20 000 per year, 95% CI 1.65–2.59), current smoking (OR = 1.52, 95% CI 1.25–1.85), type 2 diabetes (OR = 1.20, 95% CI 1.03–1.41), and memory problems (OR = 1.44, 95% CI 1.04–2.01).

Conclusions

Refractive error was the leading cause of visual impairment. Older age, lower income, province, smoking, diabetes, and memory problems were associated with visual impairment.

Read the full article through the Canadian Journal of Ophthalmology website: Full Article

This resource from the World Health Organization takes a brief view of global blindness and visual impairment. The document examines definitions, prevalence, causes, strategies, as well as WHO’s response. Last updated in October 2019, this resource is an excellent snapshot of global eye health conditions.

This resource can be accessed here.

Read the full article through the Canadian Journal of Ophthalmology website: Full Article

Authors

Rumaisa Aljied, BSc; Marie-Josée Aubin, MD, MSc, MPH; Ralf Buhrmann, MD, PhD; Ellen E. Freeman, PhD

Abstract

Objective

To determine the use of home care services in those with and without visual impairment in Canada.

Methods

Presenting visual acuity was measured using the Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study chart at 2 meters. Visual impairment was defined as binocular acuity worse than 20/60. The use of formal, informal, and both types of home care was determined by questionnaire.

Results

For 29 666 participants, the use of any home care was greater in those with visual impairment than in those without (28% vs 12%, respectively, p < 0.01). After adjusting for demographics and health, people with visual impairment were more likely to use informal home care (odds ratio [OR] = 1.89, 95% CI 1.35–2.63) and formal home care/both types of home care (OR = 2.70, 95% CI 1.79–4.07) than those without visual impairment. Marital status was a modifier.

Conclusions

Visual impairment is associated with use of home care services. These findings warrant further exploration and, if confirmed, have major health service implications, given the rising prevalence of visual impairment due to age-related eye diseases.

Read the full article through the Canadian Journal of Ophthalmology website: Full Article

The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is known for its research, postgraduate studies and continuing education in public and global health. The International Centre for Eye Health (ICEH) works to improve eye health and eliminate avoidable visual impairment and blindness with a focus on low-income populations. The ICEH has a number of global ophthalmology resources, including:

Community Eye Health Journal – The Community Eye Health Journal aims to make sure up-to-date, relevant information reaches eye care workers at all levels in countries where the burden of eye disease and blindness is greatest. Journal readers often have little access to other sources of information.

International Society Geographical & Epidemiological Ophthalmology – The aim of ISGEO is to promote the science of geographic and epidemiologic ophthalmology among all people and nations. This aim encompasses the epidemiological, clinical, educational, environmental and cultural aspects of eye disease, prevention of blindness, preservation of sight and visual rehabilitation. ISGEO provides a forum for presentation and discussion of research findings, focussing on low resource countries. As epidemiology encompasses the control of diseases in population, research presentations are welcomed in areas such as operational research, health economics, health systems research and qualitative research.

MOC: Global Blindness: Planning and Managing Eye Care Services – This course, developed by LSHTM, aims to help learners plan and manage eye care, to avoid blindness. Topics include:

• Epidemiological data on the causes and prevalence of blindness and visual impairment
• VISION 2020: The Right to Sight
• The Global Action Plan 2014-2019
• Key public health strategies for cataract and refractive error
• Health systems strengthening
• The essentials of the planning process for eye care programmes
• The principles of monitoring and evaluation

Course – MSc Public Health for Eye Care – This programme provides ophthalmic professionals with the knowledge and skills required to reduce blindness and visual disability in their populations by developing an evidence-based public health approach for the control and management of blinding eye diseases. It enables students to contribute effectively at a local, national and international level in research, training and service delivery. All three terms of this program can now be completed online.

To learn more about global ophthalmology resources from The International Centre for Eye Health, click here.

The International Visual Health Unit (USVI) is an interdisciplinary center, aimed at improving the eye health of disadvantaged populations.

The USVI was born from an interfaculty agreement at the University of Montreal bringing together various initiatives from the Faculty of Medicine, the School of Public Health and its International Health Unit (USI), and from the School of Optometry.

The mission of the USVI is to contribute to the improvement of visual health and the reduction of avoidable visual deficiencies in developing and transition countries, as well as in our more deprived local populations.

It is the only French-speaking North American organization that brings together professionals and students from various disciplines to promote training, expertise, technical support and research in international visual health.

For more information, click here.

The University of Alberta’s Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences has a well-established relationship with global ophthalmology.

The Department’s initiatives in developing countries include capacity building to improve local ophthalmology services and long-term sustainability, training and fellowships for local eye care providers, and direct service delivery in performing cataract and sub-specialty surgeries.

Their on-going STOP Glaucoma program continues to help halt progression of the disease in Sub Saharan Africa and will soon expand into areas of Eastern Africa and the Ivory Coast. The Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Global Health initiative developed out of the tele-ophthalmology program which as designed to provide better health care services to patients living in underserved regions.

To learn more about the global ophthalmology efforts and resources at the University of Alberta’s Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, click here.

The June 2020 issue of the CJO is now available online. This issue features lots of great content, including: 

Special supplement on Physician Wellness in Ophthalmology: The COS Physician Wellness Steering Committee served as the guest editors for this important supplement, which includes articles on physician burnout, ergonomics, life coaching for physicians, and results from the Canadian Medical Association’s National Physician Health Survey and the National Ophthalmologist Wellness Survey. 

Elsevier has also created a special digibook edition of the supplement, which you can access here: CJO-wellness.elsevierdigitaledition.com. Both versions of the supplement will be freely available until September 21, 2020.

Resident Perspectives + visual abstract: Our residents have summarized 5 articles, highlighting information that is particularly relevant to learners here in Canada and around the globe, including the article featured in our June visual abstract, Relationship between optic disc hemorrhage and corneal hysteresis. 

And a fantastic line-up of review articles, original research and more, including:

• Intense pulsed light therapy with meibomian gland expression for dry eye disease  
• Polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy in Canada [open access]
• Characteristics and trends in publications of abstracts presented at the COS Annual Meetings: 2010–2015 
• Guidelines for vismodegib in the management of periocular basal cell carcinoma 
• Anterior approach levatorpexy for correction of congenital ptosis [open access]
• Acute orbital myositis preceding vesicular rash eruption in herpes zoster ophthalmicus [open access] 
• Congenital sessile angioma [photo essay]

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