Dr Ahmed Trabelsi President of Nadi Al Bassar Tunisia, board member of PBU and Co –Chair of EMR IAPB will be awarded G. B. Bietti International Award at the II International Symposium on Low Vision Rehabilitation and Visual Ability, organised by IAPB Italy, in December 2010.
The II International Symposium on Low Vision Rehabilitation and Visual Ability promotes amongst national and international experts, exchange of scientific information on different methods of visual rehabilitation, technological innovation, optical, electronic and informatics instruments and devices for low vision.

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The PBU/SSI project in Ophthalmology department of Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Dar es Salam Tanzania (MUHAS) is planned to commence in the first of 2011.

This followed PBUs visit to the MUHAS, inspection of project sites and interaction with major stakeholder’s involved in the implementation of the program. During the visit an all stakeholders meeting was organized by PBU. In attendance were representatives of MUHAS, East Africa College of Ophthalmology (EACO) and Sight Savers International (SSI). The meeting discussed the detailed modalities for the successful execution of the project.

The project which will cost over $470,000 over 3 years may involve eye theatre renovation, purchase of ophthalmic and theater equipments, scholarship for fellows to train in subspecialty and residents to rotate in other EACO institutions, CPD for all EACO fellows etc

Stakeholders Meeting

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The planned Diabetic retinopathy program in Northern Jordan will now formally commence in the last quarter of 2010. This will be after an all stakeholders meeting planned for October 2010 in Amman. The purpose of the meeting is to fine tune aspects of the program with inputs from all major stakeholders ranging from professionals, governments, nongovernmental organizations, private institutions, the community etc. The five-year program which will cost about $1.2 million will involve eye health promotion, prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation services for diabetic retinopathy patients. It is aimed at reduction of the high prevalence of visual impairment due to Diabetic retinopathy in Northern Jordan. The program is being sponsored by of Standard Chartered Bank and Jordanian Ministry of Health, PBU is the implementing agency with the support of Ministry of Health Jordan.

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The Eastern Mediterranean Regional office of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (EMR-IAPB) in collaboration with IMPACT-EMR and the support of the IAPB headquarters held a leadership and programme management training workshop for the EMR national coordinators (NCs) for the prevention of blindness.WHO-EMRO office was also represented in the workshop that was held from 15-17 May 2010, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The training workshop was designed to improve the management and planning skills of NCs in the EMR; to enhance their advocacy skills for eye care programs especially as it relates to government agencies and WHO; to improve their communication, negotiating and influencing skills; and to enhance their empowerment, motivation and team work skills ..

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The Saudi National Prevention of Blindness Committee (NPBC), University of Taif and IMPACT-EMR in collaboration with London School of hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) will conduct pilot study to test the new improved methodology for the Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness (RAAB) which has been redesigned to include extensive assessment of Diabetic retinopathy. Thus the new methodology is called RAAB+DR. Similar studies had been piloted in Mexico and South Africa.
The survey will be conducted in 2 provinces of the Kingdom namely Taif in the Western region and AlAhsa in the Eastern region. It is scheduled to be held in December 2010. The study will not only generate data on blindness, its causes, prevalence of diabetic mellitus, and diabetic retinopathy in study provinces but will also build the capacity of eye care workers (ophthalmologists and allied staff) on this methodology and general survey modalities.

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The World Health Organization - Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (WHO-EMRO) with the support of IMPACT-EMR and International Agency for prevention of blindness-Eastern Mediterranean region (IAPB-EMR) will be organizing a regional workshop on Primary eye care later from 11-13 December 2010 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The workshop intends to strengthen primary eye care within primary health in the EMR countries. The objectives of the meeting includes to review the current status of primary eye care services and their integration in the primary health care in EMR Member States; to assess the strength and weakness of primary eye care services within the context of renewal of primary health care by EMR Member States; to present best practices and success stories on the primary eye health provision in EMR; to develop recommendations for the strengthening of primary eye care within primary health care. Regional and international experts on primary health care and eye health will facilitate the workshop which will be attended by all the national coordinators for primary health care and those for eye care in the EMR countries.

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