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International Council of Ophthalmology Foundation

The Impact of Vision Loss and the ICOFoundation

Needs and Opportunities for Worldwide Eye Care

Greater than ever before, the needs and opportunities for worldwide eye care stem from population growth and aging, advances in ophthalmic science and the vital role of vision in the quality of life.

Great and Growing Need for Eye Care

Throughout the world, 161 million people are severely visually impaired due to eye disease and of these, 37 million people are blind. (Ref. 1 Global Data on Visual Impairment in the Year 2002. Resnikoff S, et al. Bull. World Health Organization 2004: 82(11), 844–851). World Health Organization data document that the burden of visual impairment and blindness is greatest in the least developed regions of the globe and the burden is greater, in all regions, among women than men. More than 1.4 million children are blind, but visual impairment and blindness are most prevalent in adults 50 years of age and older. In addition, an estimated 153 million people have severe impairment of vision, including 5 million who are blind, due to uncorrected refractive error. (Ref. 2 http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2006/pr55/en/indexhtml).

Adding to this burden, the worldwide population is projected to increase in number and, even more significantly, advance in age. Between 2000 and 2030 in the United States, for example, the number of people age 65 years and older will increase from 35 million to more than 71 million. (Ref. 3 Lee P. Into the Looking Glass: Factors and Opportunities to Reshape Eye Care in the Next 25 Years, Ophthalmol 2007;14(1):1–2). With each decade of increased age over age 40, the prevalence of vision loss and blindness increases three-fold (Ref. 4 Taylor, HR. Eye Care: Dollars and Sense. Am J Ophthalmol 2007;143:1–8).

Advances in Ophthalmic Science

At least 75% of disease-related vision loss and an even greater percent of visual impairment due to refractive error are avoidable—either preventable or treatable—with currently available knowledge and biotechnology. (Ref. 5 Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness. World Health Organization/PBL/97.61) Looking ahead, scientific discovery, technological advances, clinical trials and epidemiological studies document increasingly effective medical and surgical means to prevent vision loss caused by cataract, glaucoma, infectious disease, childhood eye disease, diabetic retinopathy, uveitis, agerelated macular degeneration and a host of other conditions.

Vision-related Quality of Life

In the brain of each of us, nearly one-third of the cerebral cortex—the thin surface layer of 20 billion neurons responsible for language, consciousness and reasoning—is devoted to vision (Ref. 6 Nyberg, KA. An Early Start for the Thinking Brain, Yale Medicine, Winter 2007, page 10). Cortical cells joined through neural paths to the intricacies of the eye form the visual system that is the primary sense we rely on in our daily lives. Vision contributes to learning, mobility, perception and the quality of life.

The world today presents extraordinary challenges in the context of increasing economic, environmental and geopolitical interdependency. More than at any time in the history of human civilization, the well being of each individual is inexorably linked to that of every other. The reality of extensive and avoidable visual impairment and blindness throughout the world compels a global initiative to realize the opportunities for measures to promote the best possible vision for every person.

The stark reality of extensive and avoidable visual impairment and blindness throughout the world compels a global initiative to promote best possible vision for every person.

2007 International Council of Ophthalmology and ICOFoundation Activities Include:

• ICO and ICOFoundation Strategic Plans. Formed multiyear Strategic Plans based on the needs and opportunities for worldwide eye care.

• Ophthalmology Program Directors Courses. Presented in Pakistan, Argentina and Brazil.

• Ophthalmology Training and Eye Care Centers: Advanced ophthalmology training centers in Nigeria, China and Senegal.

• Ophthalmology Knowledge Assessments. Conducted for more than 1,647 candidates at 92 test centers in 61 countries.

• Ophthalmology Fellowships. Awarded to 58 ophthalmologists from 31 developing countries.

• World Ophthalmology Roundtable on Leadership Development (WORLD). Convened WORLD programs in Pakistan, United Arab Emirates and Kenya.

International Council of Ophthalmology Foundation

The International Council of Ophthalmology Foundation (ICOFoundation, www.icofoundation.org), established in 2002, acts to support ophthalmic education, advocate quality eye care and advance scientific ophthalmology through support of International Council of Ophthalmology programs.

With a yearlong planning process in 2007, the ICOFoundation Officers and Directors developed a strategic plan entitled Envision 2008–2010. Commencing with analysis of the activities conducted in 2007, this forward-looking multiyear agenda projects the ICOFoundation goals, financial resources and organizational development required to advance ophthalmic education and eye care in areas of greatest need.

Implementing Envision 2008–2010, the ICOFoundation Board of Directors, at the Board Meeting on November 11, 2007, approved the recommendation of President Bradley R. Straatsma and elected Dr. Hilel Lewis as ICOFoundation President effective January 1, 2009, and Dr. Alfred Sommer as ICOFoundation Vice President effective January 1, 2009. Prior to assuming office, Dr. Lewis and Dr. Sommer are President-Elect and Vice President-Elect respectively.

Functioning throughout the globe as the World Ophthalmology Foundation®, programs of the ICOFoundation are coordinated with the International Council of Ophthalmology and the International Federation of Ophthalmological Societies.

ICOFoundation Board of Directors Meeting in New Orleans on November 11, 2007. Left to right: Rubens Belfort, MD, PhD; James V. Mazzo; Paul A. Sieving, MD, PhD; David E. I. Pyott; Alfred Sommer, MD, MHS; Jean-Jacques C. DeLaey, MD, PhD; Bruce E. Spivey, MD; Hilel Lewis, MD; Bradley R. Straatsma, MD, JD; Paul R. Lichter, MD; Akef El-Maghraby, MD; Abdulaziz AlRajhi, MD (guest); Alice R. McPherson, MD; Takakazu Morita and Yasuo Tano, MD

International Council of Ophthalmology

Celebrating 150 years of international ophthalmology, the International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO, www.icoph.org) traces its origin to 1857 when 150 ophthalmologists from 24 countries convened in Brussels for the first International Congress of Ophthalmology. Since then, the ICO has been responsible for organizing the periodic International Congress of Ophthalmology and for conducting global programs to advance ophthalmology education, patient care and research.

The ICO is the executive body of the International Federation of Ophthalmological Societies (IFOS). As such, the ICO is composed of members elected by Delegates of the IFOS; members representing the Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis, International Agency for Prevention of Blindness, ICOFoundation, and the major supernational ophthalmological societies; and members who are coordinators of the principal ICO programs.

Uniquely representative of world ophthalmology, the ICO/IFOS, registered as a nonprofit organization in Switzerland, is made up of the national ophthalmology societies of over 100 countries and more than 23 multinational subspecialty ophthalmology societies. In aggregate, the ICO, along with the IFOS, brings together ophthalmologists worldwide.

World Ophthalmology Congress®

Organized by the International Council of Ophthalmology, the 2006 World Ophthalmology Congress® in São Paulo, Brazil, combined the XXX International Congress of Ophthalmology; the XXVI Pan-American Congress of Ophthalmology; and the XVII Brazilian Blindness Prevention and Visual Rehabilitation Congress. All components of the 2006 World Ophthalmology Congress® were united for the purpose of transmitting knowledge, stimulating discovery through research, and decreasing avoidable visual impairment and blindness.

With Dr. Rubens Belfort (Brazil) as President, the 2006 World Ophthalmology Congress® included an outstanding scientific and cultural program as well as the seminal Global Forum of Non-governmental Organizations working to preserve and restore vision. The Congress was attended by more than 12,000 participants from 120 countries. This underscores how our professional community has become global.

The 2008 World Ophthalmology Congress® in Hong Kong, China, will be led by Dr. Dennis S. C. Lam (China) as President. The Congress will combine the XXXI International Congress of Ophthalmology; the XXIII Congress of the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology; the XIII Congress of the Chinese Ophthalmological Society, and the XX Hong Kong Ophthalmological Symposium. In 2010, the World Ophthalmology Congress® will convene in Berlin, Germany, with Dr. Gerhard K. Lang (Germany) as President.

International Council of Ophthalmology Foundation Programs

Programs of the ICO and ICOFoundation stem from the International Ophthalmology Strategic Plan to Preserve and Restore Vision — Vision for the Future published in 2001 and a comprehensive strategic planning process conducted through a series of
meetings in 2006–2007. ICO and ICOFoundation Programs

With actions as closely intertwined as two strands of DNA, ICO and ICOFoundation programs support Ophthalmic Education and Training, Ophthalmic Knowledge Assessments, Ophthalmology Fellowship Training, Ophthalmology Training and Eye Care Centers, Eye and Vision Care Guidelines, Advocacy for Preservation of Vision, and Research in Ophthalmology and Vision.

ICO and ICOFoundation Programs: