Orbis India Newsletter. Volume 3, Issue 3

Transcription

1 Orbis India Newsletter Volume 3, Issue 3

2 Vol. 3 Issue 3 July Aug Sep 2017 Orbis India publishes a quarterly newsletter spotlighting Orbis activities and events, latest news from partner institutions, upcoming events and inspiring stories along the Orbis journey. We welcome you to browse, read and share this!

3 From the Director s Desk Greetings from Orbis! Thank you for taking time out of your day to read the Orbis India Newsletter. We have had an eventful quarter here at Orbis. Rishi Raj Borah, our Director Program, who has been an integral part of the Orbis journey in India for more than 10 years, was recognized by IAPB as an Eye Health Hero. A truly well-deserved recognition indeed. I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate all the other Eye Health Heroes for championing the cause of eye health in their communities. Featured in this issue of the newsletter is an inspiring story from Dr. Shroff s Charity Eye Hospital, Little Flower Hospital s recent milestone in Quality, Akhand Jyoti Eye Hospital and the Champions of Change initiative organized by NITI Aayog, the Annual Partner s Meet of Orbis and the research brief released by Orbis on Gender and Eye Health among many other stories. For the latest on Orbis activities around the world, please visit or follow us on Hope you had a happy and safe Diwali. Dr. Rahul Ali Country Director - India Orbis International

4 Congratulations IAPB s Eye Health Hero, Dr. Rishi Raj Borah It gives us immense pleasure to announce that Dr. Rishi Raj Borah, Director Program at Orbis India was recognized as IAPB s Eye Health Hero 2017 and felicitated at the IAPB Council of Members in Kathmandu! The Eye Health Heroes initiative recognizes and celebrates frontline staff whose work in the field and engagement with the community makes a real difference in restoring sight. Nominated by IAPB member organizations from within their ranks, or from their partner organizations, 14 Heroes were chosen from the South-East Asia region this year. Rishi has committed an enormous part of his life to help ensure that children across the country have a better life. Congratulations Rishi. You are a hero!

5 New gender and eye health brief released by Orbis International We are proud to announce that the final research brief in the series of three has just been completed and is ready for use! Following the previous two briefs, namely, "How better vision changes children's lives" and The economic impact of eye health, the third, "Gender and eye health," demonstrates the many ways in which women and girls face an unfair burden of blindness and eye disease globally. This brief sheds light on the issues and raises awareness around existing problems of gender parity in eye health that seem more social than strictly clinical. It also outlines how outreach programs and school screening projects work to reach women and girls and address traditional gender barriers to provide them access to eye health services. To read the full brief, click on the link below:

6 The successful surgery of eight-month-old Aryan by Dr. Shroff s Charity Eye Hospital It was celebration time at Dr. Shroff s Charity Eye Hospital (SCEH) after they successfully conducted surgery of an infant at their facility. Eight-month-old Aryan has congenital heart disease because of which he was turned away for a cataract surgery by few other eye hospitals. SCEH team took up the challenge and their state-of-the-art anesthesia equipment and expertise in pediatric eye care made sure little Aryan could see the world around him. Orbis India, has helped develop 32 Children s Eye Centers (CECs) across the country, the first of which was setup at SCEH. Dr. Suma Ganesh, pediatric ophthalmologist at SCEH, who treated Aryan, happens to be the first Orbis fellow to be sent to Manhattan Eye and Ear Hospital for training. We are proud of Dr. Suma and the SCEH team for this breakthrough surgery.

7 Congratulations LFH on receiving NABH Accreditation We would like to congratulate Little Flower Hospital (LFH) for receiving NABH accreditation. Shri. Pinarayi Vijayan, the Honorable Chief Minister of Kerala presented the certificate at a ceremony on September 19, Orbis has a long-standing relationship with LFH, which started with the Kerala Childhood Blindness Project in March At present, the hospital is implementing Orbis REACH (Refractive Error Among Children) project in the Thrissur district of Kerala. Our best wishes to Team LFH!

8 Look who visited the Orbis India office Dr. Shilpa Bhatte, Senior Program Advisor, Dr. Nikhil Harikrishnan, Program Officer and Mr. Arvind Caulagi, Marketing Coordinator at Vitamin Angels visited the Orbis India office and conducted a session on Vitamin A deficiency among children. During the meeting, we also discussed potential areas for future collaboration. Vitamin Angels offers Vitamin A supplements and deworming tablets to various qualified NGOs including Orbis partners across the country. Here s how you can connect with them: sbhatte@vitaminangels.org nikhilh@vitaminangels.org

9 Annual Orbis India Partners' Meet 2017 The Annual Orbis India Partners Meet (September 22 23, 2017) was attended by Orbis partners from across the country. Continuing in the series on Quality, this year we came together at Sadguru Netra Chikitsalaya (SNC), Chitrakoot to discuss and deliberate on the benefits and challenges of quality and accreditation. Dr. B.K. Rana, Founding CEO of Quality & Accreditation Institute (QAI) and former Director of NABH was the key resource person for this meet. His tremendous experience and knowledge in the field was of great value to all our partners. Ms. Manju Aswani, DGM & Zone Head (East) at Indian Register Quality Systems also spoke on ISO certification and its relevance for healthcare organizations. Joint Commission International (JCI) standards and certification were also discussed.

10 The FEH experience by an Orbis Volunteer Surgeon By the end of the trip, our team of Volunteer Faculty had trained 103 eye professionals, screened or examined 224 patients (including 25 babies for ROP), and operated on 84 patients during the two-week program. Orbis is an incredible organization with a heroic mission, and I have been fortunate enough to contribute my skills and expertise to help Orbis make the world a better place. This was Dr. Armie Harper, Orbis Volunteer Surgeon s account of the FEH experience he had in Vietnam. Our pool of 400+ Volunteer Faculty from across the world, including India, train local doctors, optometrists, nurses, anesthesiologists, technicians - the entire eye health team. Using their enhanced skills, these eye health teams can now do more to improve the lives of their community. To know more log on to:

11 Number of blind people set to triple by 2050 A new paper by the Vision Loss Expert Group has been published in the Lancet on the prevalence of blindness and visual impairment. It estimates that in 2015, 36 million people, globally, were blind and 217 million were visually impaired compared to the WHO s Global Data on Visual Impairments 2010 which had estimated that 39 million were blind and 246 million were visually impaired. The new data is encouraging as it shows that our efforts to reduce avoidable blindness is working. However, it is vital we continue this work in the face of a growing and ageing population and increasing chronic diseases like diabetes. The report also reveals that unless we improve access to eye health services, we could see the number of people who are blind triple to 115 million by See the full report here:

12 Mr. Mritunjay Tiwary meets PM Modi at Champions of Change conclave Mr. Mritunjay Tiwary, founder of Akhand Jyoti Eye Hospital (AJEH), was invited to the Champions of Change conclave organized by NITI Aayog where Shri Narendra Modi, Honorable Prime Minister of India, addressed and interacted with young entrepreneurs. Speaking on A New India by 2022, Mr. Tiwary asserted that a new India, within the next five years, was possible by pulling up low income states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. AJEH s ground-breaking work vis-à-vis the FOOTBALL to EYEBALL model of restoring sight, and thereby alleviating poverty and addressing gender disparity is unique. We would like to congratulate AJEH for this recognition.

13 Stories along the Orbis journey! Six-year-old Vetrivel had progressive reduction in his vision and squeezed his eyes to be able to see clearly. The problem remained untreated until Sankara Netralaya, an Orbis partner, identified him with cataract during a school screening program. Vetrivel was successfully operated at the hospital. After the surgery, his mother heaved a sigh of relief saying, Never knew that treatment provided free of cost could be good and we are very thankful for it.

14 Upcoming events October 23-25, nd International Conference on Ophthalmology, Osaka, Japan October 27 29, nd Annual Conference of Uttar Pradesh State Ophthalmological Society, Ramnagar, India November 02 04, th Global Ophthalmology, Optometry and Glaucoma Conference, Bangkok, Thailand November 04 26, 2017 "Drishti 2017" 44th Annual Conference of Kerala Society of Ophthalmic Surgeons, Kollam, India November 9, 2017 Ophthalmology Innovation Summit at American Academy of Ophthalmology, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA November 11 12, 2017 OSOCON rd Annual Conference of Orissa State Ophthalmological Society, Berhampur, India November 11 14, 2017 American Academy of Ophthalmology Annual Meeting 2017, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA November 21 23, 2017 International Conference on Ophthalmology, Dubai, UAE November 24, th ASEAN Economic Community Ophthalmology Meeting, Hanoi, Vietnam

15 Upcoming events November 24 26, th International Symposium "Low Vision and the Brain," Berlin, Germany November 25 26, nd Annual Conference of Women Ophthalmologists Society, Jaipur, India November 30 December 03, 2017 VRSI th Annual Conference of Vitreo Retinal Society of India, Bhubaneswar, India December 01 03, 2017 "WCPOS IV" 4th World Congress of Paediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, Hyderabad, India December 01 03, nd World Congress on Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgery, Chennai, India December 09-10, 2017 Joint SPOSI-DOS International Congress, Delhi, India February 16 17, nd International Swept Source OCT & Angiography Conference, Paris, France February 22 25, th Annual Conference of the All India Ophthalmological Society, Coimbatore, India February 26 27, 2018 Global Ophthalmology Summit 2018, Berlin, Germany

16 Orbis International India Country Office, 6th Floor, Fortune Tower II, Plot No. 406, Udyog Vihar Phase III, Gurgaon, Haryana , India Tel: Fax: info.india@orbis.org Orbis is a leading global non-governmental organization that has been a pioneer in the prevention and treatment of blindness for over 30 years. Orbis transforms lives by providing the skills, resources and knowledge needed to deliver accessible quality eye care. Working in collaboration with local partners, Orbis provides hands-on training, strengthens eye care infrastructure and advocates for the prioritization of eye health on public health agendas. In India, the focus is specially on children, where Orbis has established the world s largest network of Children s Eye Centers: 31 centers across 17 states. When we can see, it can be easy to take our vision for granted. But giving vision to someone who doesn t have it is lifechanging. And we change lives!