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June 13th 2008

New Global Health Podcast from ICEH staff and students on the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine website

Peter Goodwin talks with Hessom Razavi, Puneet Sayal, and Clare Gilbert:

Blind For Blindness: Preventing Childhood Blindness
Eye doctor Hessom Razavi volunteered to go about his usual studies at the London School blindfold for 24 hours to give publicity to the need to prevent childhood blindness all over the world, especially in developing countries. The "Blind For Blindness" initiative was taken as part of the "VISION 2020" project at the London School, with the help of Goodenough College, London.

Listen in normal quality (MP3 15MB 17 mins) | lower quality (MP3 4MB 17 mins)

April 23rd 2008

REGISTER FOR THE "PLANNING FOR VISION 2020 SHORT COURSE", 7 – 11 July 2008
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), 7 –11 July 2008

This five day course is aimed primarily at ophthalmologists and eye health programme managers involved in the drive to eradicate all treatable blindness globally by the year 2020.

The main aim of the workshop is to familiarise participants with the goals and objectives of VISION 2020: the Right to Sight and the planning principles involved in establishing community eye health programmes.

More details from LSHTM, www.lshtm.ac.uk/prospectus/short/sto.html
To apply, contact Jodie McIntosh-Shah, LSHTM, Room 101, 50 Bedford Square, London, UK WC1B 3DP. Email:Shortcourses@Lshtm.ac.uk, Tel: +44 (0)20 7299 4648, Fax: +44 (0)20 7323 0638.

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March 28th 2008

Tropical Ophthalmology Course
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, 9–11th April 2008

Course Aim : To acquaint the student with the clinical presentations of ocular diseases in the tropics, the managements and challenges to service delivery.

Learning outcomes : To be able to :

Discuss the epidemiology of the eye diseases in the tropics
Describe the clinical presentations and management of the diseases.
Understand the challenges in service provision.
Appreciate the VISION 2020 initiative to reduce blindness due to avoidable causes.

More details and application procedures from LSHTM www.lshtm.ac.uk/prospectus/short/sto.html

Course Programme PDF (35Kb)

March 17th 2008

New publication from WHO

Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness : action plan 2006-2011.
This document is the result of many months of research, consultation and revision, by the WHO Prevention of Blindness and Deafness team, with input from many leading figures from IAPB. The Action Plan recognises achievements and milestones in the implementation of the VISION 2020 Global Initiative, and points up some of the challenges now facing the programme worldwide.
Link: PDF (4.7Mb)

March 8th 2008

VISION 2020 Workshops Report 2007 PDF (245Kb)

Summary report of the 25 VISION 2020 workshops held in 2007 covering the following WHO regions - 11 in Africa, 1 in South East Asia, 1 in Eastern Europe, 1 in Eastern Mediterranean , 4 in Western Pacific and 7 in Latin America.

More on the VISION 2020 Workshops.

February 28th 2008

Now available to download: Ophthalmic Operating Theatre Practice: A Manual for Developing Countries

This ICEH manual aims to share required standards needed to create a service which is
efficient and effective. It addresses topics such as the care of the patient, the importance of infection control, setting up and running a theatre, in-service training, record keeping, and other aspects of administration. The manual is for all those involved in theatre practice, from the most junior to the most senior.

February 7th 2008

New journal publication from ICEH

Gilbert, C. (2008). "Retinopathy of prematurity: A global perspective of the epidemics, population of babies at risk and implications for control." Early Human Development, in press. ABSTRACT

February 5th 2008

Dr Andrew Smith joins ICEH

Dr Andrew Smith, an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist, has been appointed Honorary Professor at ICEH and is seconded from the World Health Organization where he works on prevention of deafness and hearing impairment.

January 29th 2008

New research publication from ICEH

Lens Opacities in Adults in Pakistan: Prevalence and Risk Factors
Shaheen P. Shah; Brendan Dineen; Zahid Jadoon; Rupert Bourne; Mohammad Aman Khan; Gordon J. Johnson; Bianca De Stavola; Clare Gilbert; Mohammad Daud Khan
Ophthalmic Epidemiology, Volume 14 Issue 6 2007
This paper investigates the prevalence and risk factors for lens opacity amongst a nationally representative sample of the adult population of Pakistan.
Link: ABSTRACT

See more research publications from ICEH staff.

January 24th 2008

New Community Eye Health Journal issue: Advocacy for eye health, now available on the web www.cehjournal.org.

Advocacy is a crucial component of VISION 2020: The Right To Sight. It has in fact been an important part of global health promotion initiatives for the past twenty years, since the nations of the world came together in Canada for the first International Conference on Health Promotion in 1986. The aim of advocacy is to persuade those in authority or those with influence to use their authority to promote actions that are desirable and beneficial for a particular group of persons.

Diploma fees lowered for UK students

The fee for the Diploma in Community Eye Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is now split for home and overseas students. The fees for 2007-08 are:

UK students: £1,865
Overseas students: £6,090

See the LSHTM web site for more details: www.lshtm.ac.uk/prospectus/short/sdceh.html

January 21st 2008

Two new papers from ICEH

Poverty and blindness in Pakistan: results from the Pakistan national blindness and visual impairment survey
Authors: Gilbert CE, Shah SP, Jadoon MZ, Bourne R, Dineen B, Khan MA, Johnson GJ, Khan MD; Pakistan National Eye Survey Study Group.
Publisher: BMJ www.bmj.com
Journal: British Medical Journal
Published: 2008.01.05
Description: This paper explores the association between blindness and deprivation in a nationally representative sample of adults in Pakistan.
Link: ABSTRACT
Two strategies for correcting refractive errors in school students in Tanzania: randomised comparison, with implications for screening programmes
Authors: Wedner S, Masanja H, Bowman R, Todd J, Bowman R, Gilbert C.
Publisher: BMJ www.bmj.com
Journal: British Journal of Ophthalmology
Published: 2008.01.01
Description: This paper compares whether free spectacles or only a prescription for spectacles influences wearing rates among Tanzanian students with un/undercorrected refractive error (RE).
Link: ABSTRACT

8th annual meeting of the Indian ICEH Alumni Group
A cordial invitation to alumni to participate at the 8th annual meeting of the group in Bangalore, Karnataka on 30th. January, 2008 (Wednesday). Details of the venue and the programme PDF (60Kb)

January 14th 2008

New resource
Global magnitude of visual impairment caused by uncorrected refractive errors in 2004
Authors: Serge Resnikoff, Donatella Pascolini, Silvio P Mariotti, Gopal P Pokharel
Publisher: WHO www.who.int
Journal: Bulletin of the World Health Organization
Published: 2008.01.01
Description: This paper presents the estimate of the prevalence of visual impairment from uncorrected refractive errors for all ages over 5 years at regional and global levels, based on recent published and unpublished surveys.
Links: FULL TEXT PDF (2.4Mb)