This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
The APAO and its member societies
In this issue, the APAO highlights the Chinese Ophthalmological Society.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
We are pleased to share with you that Ocular Surgery News – APAO Edition is now available on both smart phones and tablet computers. Please search “OSN APAO” in the app store to download the app.
Asia-Pacific Eye Care Week
The Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology is organizing its 3rd Asia-Pacific Eye Care Week, which will be held during the second week of October to coincide with World Sight Day 2013. In collaboration with the Asia-Pacific Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the Asia Cornea Society and the Association of Eye Banks of Asia, the 3rd Asia-Pacific Eye Care Week will focus on dysthyroid eye diseases, corneal diseases and eye banking.
An educational kit and a press statement for each topic can be found on the APAO website at http://www.apaophth.org/eyecareweek/2013. We will also soon upload the activities organized by our member societies.
Images: Lam DSC
To learn more about activities organized during the first two Asia-Pacific Eye Care Weeks, please visit http://www.apaophth.org/eyecareweek/2012 and http://www.apaophth.org/eyecareweek/2nd.
The Chinese Ophthalmological Society
Founded in 1937 with the mission to promote ophthalmology in China and to facilitate the delivery of quality eye care to patients, the Chinese Ophthalmological Society (COS) has more than 22,000 members in 11 subspecialties, including corneal diseases, glaucoma, cataract, optometry, strabismus and pediatric ophthalmology, vitreoretinal diseases and ocular trauma. The COS Congress was held every 4 years initially and is now an annual event.
The COS recently held its Annual Congress in Xiamen, China, from Sept. 13-17. According to Kanxing Zhao, MD, PhD, former COS president, the meeting was attended by more than 7,000 delegates. During the plenary session of the COS meeting, Rajvardhan Azad, MD, FRCS, current APAO president, emphasized his vision for the APAO.
Being a supranational organization with 19 member countries in the Asia-Pacific region, the APAO maintains the vision to prevent and reduce avoidable blindness through improving the capacity of its member countries to plan and deliver quality eye care services. At present, the ophthalmologist-to-patient ratio in many APAO member nations is far from ideal, with India, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nepal and Mongolia suffering a critical shortage of ophthalmologists. Even developed nations such as Australia, New Zealand and Singapore also have a moderate shortage. Childhood blindness due to nutritional deficiency, trauma and infection is prevalent in China and India. Corneal blindness accounts for 20% to 25% of childhood blindness in India and other developing countries. We hope that through various educational, scientific and research activities, the APAO can help promote the science of ophthalmology and advance eye care delivery in the Asia-Pacific region so that everyone can have the right to sight.
During the closing ceremony of the Congress, Ningli Wang, MD, PhD, succeeded Prof. Zhao as COS president. Prof. Wang will also serve as president of the APAO Annual Congress in Guangzhou, China, in 2015.
As always, the APAO emphasizes the importance of international collaboration. We are pleased to announce that the American Academy of Ophthalmology will cosponsor APAO Guangzhou 2015. We hope to continue to bring to you updates and latest developments in the field of ophthalmology and visual sciences with our annual congress and various other initiatives.
The 9th International Symposium of Ophthalmology
Although there is still quite awhile until the 2015 APAO Congress, the APAO is pleased to share that the 9th International Symposium of Ophthalmology (ISO) is just around the corner. The 9th ISO will be held from Nov. 9-11, 2013 in Guangzhou, China, in conjunction with the 30th anniversary celebration of the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center. Being one of the supporting organizations, the APAO will organize a symposium focusing on advances in our understanding of glaucoma. Other supporting organizations and co-organizers of the 9th ISO include Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis, the World Glaucoma Association, the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, the World Society of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, the National Eye Institute, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Wilmer Eye Institute, Yale Eye Center, and Doheny Eye Institute, to name but a few.
The scientific program schedule is now available at http://www.iso2013.org/congress/register/PDS_program_schedule.php?mode=glance. Major highlights of the 9th ISO include a named lecture to be delivered by Nobel Laureate Andrew V. Schally, PhD, MDhc, DSchc, who will share his career developments, inspirations, aspirations and road to success.
The cataract program of the 9th ISO will also feature a Challenging Case Symposium on cataract and IOL complications moderated by David F. Chang, MD, former ASCRS President. Prof. Chang will present 10 videos, both 2-D and 3-D. At different stages of each case, the video will be paused and the audience will be asked to respond regarding how they would proceed with audience response keypads. Expert panelists will then be asked to discuss management recommendations. Thanks to the courtesy of Prof. Chang, the Chinese translation of his immensely popular textbook – Phaco Chop and Advanced Phaco Techniques Strategies for Complicated Cataracts – will be distributed to all Chinese delegates and delegates capable of reading Chinese free of charge.
The pediatric program will also feature a focused workshop on retinopathy of prematurity, while the visual sciences program will feature Samuel M. Wu, PhD, who received the ARVO Friedenwald Award in 2009.
To learn more about the meeting, please visit www.iso2013.org. Register now at https://www.iso2013.org/congress/register/login.php so that you do not miss this world-class program.