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Partnership committee of NGOs focuses efforts on Vision 2020 goals
Community participation and training are vital in establishing self-sustaining programs that do not stop when the NGO teams go home.
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With the start of the new year, eye health organizations around the world are strengthening their resources to meet the objectives of the campaign "Vision 2020: The Right To Sight," by its target date of 2020. As part of this effort, international humanitarian organizations and local governments and health services will emphasize building long-term eye care in the areas they serve.
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"We are committed to addressing the main causes of needless blindness, in order to give all people in developing and industrialized countries their right to sight," Suzanne Gilbert, PhD, MPH, told Ocular Surgery News in a recent interview. Dr. Gilbert is a vice president of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) as well as a consultant to sight programs at the Seva Foundation in Berkeley, Calif.
In 1999, the IAPB teamed up with the World Health Organization (WHO) to form the Vision 2020 program in response to the global need for blindness relief and prevention.
According to the IAPB, every 5 seconds one person in the world goes blind, and a child goes blind every minute. The organization estimates that if aggressive measures are not taken, the number of blind people in the world could increase from 45 million to more than 75 million by 2020.
"The need for providing efficient and effective eye services, rehabilitation, public education and awareness is paramount," Dr. Gilbert said.
Developing and coordinating these efforts among international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and their regional counterparts is an essential strategy in reaching the goals of Vision 2020, she said.
"Only through partnership can we help to bring about change and sustain long-term eye care in developing nations," she added.
Need for partnership
To strengthen communication and collaboration among NGOs involved in the Vision 2020 undertaking, an informal group of NGOs has evolved to become the Partnership Committee of International Non-Governmental Organizations Dedicated to the Prevention of Blindness and Low Vision, and Education and Rehabilitation Services for the Blind.
The Partnership Committee, formed in 1980, now consists of 43 member NGOs and three associate NGOs from 14 countries. One of the leading functions of the partnership is to reach out to NGOs that are involved in international eye care and expose them to the considerable network already in place.
Many well-intentioned international groups work in a vacuum, unaware of what local health ministries seek to put in place and also without knowledge of other organizations’ efforts in that country. The partnership provides orientation to the many available information and coordination resources," Dr. Gilbert said.
"The committee has been a useful forum to promote cross-education regarding what’s going on in the prevention of blindness, low vision services, education and rehabilitation with people who are blind. It is the broadest consortium of service, teaching, advocacy and research organizations in the field of vision. Manufacturing companies with interest in serving poor communities are also involved," she added.
The Partnership Committee and its membersYou can contact the Partnership Committee of International Non-Governmental Organizations Dedicated to the Prevention of Blindness and Low Vision, and Education and Rehabilitation Services for the Blind via e-mail at partnershipcommittee@hotmail.com, or reach the chair of the committee directly at this address: Suzanne Gilbert, PhD, MPH; e-mail: suzgilbert@earthlink.net To reach members of the Partnership Committee focused on your specialty, contact those listed below: | |
| Dr. Adam Zayan, MD | Ahmed Trabelsi, MD |
| Larry Campbell | Suzanne Gilbert, PhD, MPH |
| Mary Ann Lang, MD | |
Dr. Gilbert said members of the committee meet approximately once a year to discuss their recent efforts and future plans and to find out how their efforts could be more effective in combating blinding disease. In addition, monthly IAPB and Vision 2020 newsletters provide committee members with up-to-date information.
"These communications are critical, because we don’t want to produce overlaps in programs, and as well, we want to make sure that the efforts we put forth are well-aligned," she said.
"Each organization or entity has something uniquely useful to add to Vision 2020’s goals of reducing preventable and curable blindness. Through getting better acquainted, comfortably working together and developing willingness to work collaboratively, much more can be accomplished," she added.
Advancing through education
The Partnership Committee also strives to educate members on practical topics to increase productivity and quality of service programs in the field.
"Some meetings might talk about how to establish a program agreement with colleagues in a developing country, like the ministry of health. Other meetings team up certain NGOs who are focused on a particular issue, such as tackling high-volume cataract surgery or issues unique to childhood blindness," Dr. Gilbert said.
The exchange of ideas and information helps to develop programs that will be set up at locations in parts of Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America and Southeast Asia.
"At this point, programs are developing strategies to address the growing tide of cataract blindness by having an excellent set of procedures that can be adapted to many settings," Dr. Gilbert said.
She noted that training programs for local doctors and low-cost equipment and supplies for the teams have helped some programs become self-sustaining, allowing care to continue after NGO teams have left the area.
"Developing self-sustaining, community-based programs is a whole new frontier in the long-term fight against preventable blindness," Dr. Gilbert said.
New component to fight
Most service programs supported by partnership committee member organizations focus on training local eye care workers, providing preventive education for at-risk populations and engaging all segments of the community.
"A growing number of eye programs now counsel patients after surgery and encourage them to go back to their villages and tell their peers, family members and those in need of eye care about the success of their surgery," Dr. Gilbert said.
"The benefits of this word-of-mouth technique are immeasurable. After all, the best advertisement for good service is a satisfied patient," she said.
Such counseling and educational programs will spread the word more quickly to people in need of care who remain home. Practical steps such as this help ensure that scarce resources and facilities are better used. Especially in parts of the world where cataract surgery is a relatively recently introduced service, it takes years to build the community recognition and trust in the eye care teams available to help local blind people.
Reaching 2020
Dr. Gilbert said that these collaborative community-oriented efforts, focused on leading causes of vision loss, will not only achieve the goals of Vision 2020 — in addition, she said, "The paradigm of partnership can serve as a model and inspiration for groups seeking to remedy other health and social problems around the world."
For Your Information:
- Suzanne Gilbert, PhD, MPH, can be reached at suzgilbert@earthlink.net.