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| Member Profile | |||
There are an estimated 45 million blind people and 1.5 million blind children in the world. Over 90% of the blind live in developing countries. Because of the increase in life expectancy and the projected increase in world population, this number is likely to rise to more than 75 million by the year 2020 if current trends continue. Of every ten blind people, seven live in Asia and two in Africa. Six of the ten can be cured by cataract surgery and a further three could be prevented from going blind if eye care services were readily available. Blindness is therefore mainly a problem of developing countries, but a problem, which could be avoided in up to 80% of cases.
The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness was established in 1975 as a coordinating, umbrella organisation to lead an international effort in mobilising resources for blindness prevention activities. Its first major achievement was to promote the establishment of a WHO Programme for Prevention of Blindness, with which it has remained strongly linked.
Within the mandate of combating avoidable blindness, the Agency has major objectives. These are:
Disseminating ideas and information on successful approaches to eye care delivery. Increasing public awareness of needs and solutions so that one country may be assisted by the experiences and resources of another. Supporting the WHO programme and its strategies through close dialogue, mobilisation of resources and evaluation of activities.
IAPB works to encourage the formation of national prevention of blindness committees and programmes, led by governments with input from the WHO, local and international non-governmental organisations. These now exist in over eighty countries.
A significant feature of the IAPB over the past decade has been the growth of a network of international non-governmental organisations. These organisations are active at all levels of eye health provision, including health education, mobile eye care services, secondary and tertiary eye hospitals and clinics, and the training of national personnel. The latter include primary eye care workers, ophthalmic assistants and nurses, ophthalmologists and programme managers. IAPB holds a General Assembly every four years and regional conferences in the intervening years. The Agency also produces a quarterly newsletter. The meetings and newsletter are used as a forum for the exchange of information and ideas, and in particular for demonstrating successful approaches leading to the development of comprehensive eye care and the prevention of blindness.