Announcing another Programme Partner - CBM

MEDIA RELEASE

IAPB’s 10th General Assembly, the premier global event discussing public health issues related to blindness and visual impairment, is delighted to announce another Programme Partner – CBM.

As Programme Partner, CBM will be presenting a course on ‘Inclusive Eye Health’ as part of the 10GA Scientific Programme. Women and men, boys and girls with disability, including those with vision impairment, make up 20% of the world’s poorest and most marginalised—nearly 1 billion people. It is therefore essential that everyone working in eye health, including planners, providers, evaluators & funders, understand key steps they can take at their own level, to build inclusion for all people.

Working with its partners, CBM has been actively building and evaluating its practices in inclusive eye health, and seeking to develop and share these within the wider eye-health and disability sectors since 2009. Led by course conveners Babar Qureshi and David Lewis, the session on Inclusive Eye Health will bring together specialist speakers and present best practices and case studies from a variety of sources.

“With nearly one billion people with disabilities in the world, it is imperative that we work with them to improve their quality of life by overcoming barriers that cause exclusion” says Babar Qureshi, Global Advisor for Eye Health, CBM. “The objective of the course is that participants grow in knowledge and understanding of the key principles and practices which will ensure access to eye health for all people, and that patients with long term visual impairment access wider opportunities”.

10GA’s theme is “Stronger Together”. In 2016, IAPB will be showcasing one of the eye health sector’s remarkable success stories – our longstanding cross-sectoral partnerships. “We are delighted to that CBM is one of our Programme Partners”, said Joanna Conlon, Director of Development, IAPB. “CBM’s commitment and efforts to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities around the world are exemplary—we all have much to learn from them.”
To find out more, please visit: http://10ga.iapb.org

Notes to Editors:

About IAPB
The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) is the coordinating membership organisation leading international efforts in blindness prevention activities. IAPB’s mission is to eliminate the main causes of avoidable blindness and visual impairment by bringing together governments and non-governmental agencies to facilitate the planning, development and implementation of sustainable national eye care programmes. For more information, please visit: www. iapb.org

About CBM
CBM is one of the leading international development agencies focused on people with disabilities. It supports the provision of services and the development of inclusion and empowerment for people with visual, hearing and physical impairment, and those with psycho-social disabilities in 63 poor and middle income countries. CBM seeks to alleviate poverty, assisting people with disabilities regardless of their nationality, ethnic group, gender, age or religion.
For more information, please visit: http://www.cbm.org

The 10th General Assembly (10GA)
IAPB’s 10th General Assembly (10GA) is the premier global event discussing public health issues related to blindness and visual impairment. Catering to every eye health professional – ophthalmologists, optometrists, other eye health professionals, development and public health experts, key opinion leaders, procurement specialists, CEOs, eye care equipment manufacturers – 10GA will be the biggest event in the eye health calendar in 2016. With the theme “Stronger Together”, IAPB aims to underscore the key value it delivers to the eye care sector – building partnerships and ensuring that the entire sector speaks in one voice.
For more information, please visit: http://10ga.iapb.org

Global Facts
• About 285 million people are visually impaired worldwide: 39 million are blind and 246 million have low vision (severe or moderate visual impairment)
• preventable causes are as high as 80% of the total global visual impairment burden
• About 90% of the world’s visually impaired people live in developing countries
• Globally, uncorrected refractive errors are the main cause of visual impairment
• Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness