The Visionary Fall 2009

The Visionary – Fall 2009 • Page 9 Social Organizations in Visual Health in Central America Study In 2006, following the SAVIM study on Central America, the Chair’s investigative team realized that a more complete study of the nongovernmental or social organizations working in the visual health sector in Central America was needed. The resulting report included a directory of organizations and fostered a series of meetings at the country level to create networks of visual health organizations to eliminate conflict between organizations and to generate cooperative projects that would yield productive results. In El Salvador, for example, an inter-institutional committee was formed at the national level to create a National VISION 2020 plan for the prevention of avoidable blindness. This group has sought to be inclusive of all organizations and to maximize the efficiency of all organizations to achieve effective goals for the country. Global Burden of Disease Study The World Health Organization embarked on a periodic study of the global burden of all diseases, starting with the first study in 1990. The current study includes a section on vision loss (blindness and visual impairment), which evaluates the prevalence of ocular conditions per the ICD-10 list of diseases, the sequelae of systemic diseases causing blindness, the resulting impact on functional performance, a measure of disability, and a calculation of the global burden of disease. Dr. Leasher has been named to the Vision Loss Expert Group and has been conducting a literature review of available studies from across the Americas and Caribbean. The results of this work will be available in 2010. COOPERATION FOR DEVELOPMENT Dialog Through the platform of information sharing and generation of new ideas through research and reflection, the UNESCO Chair in Visual Health and Development has developed networks of professors, of researchers, and of universities to collaborate for the common goal of improving visual health. Complementing the forums held in El Salvador and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the Chair has hosted two International Congresses on Visual Health and Development (Barcelona in 2003 and El Salvador in 2007). A forum also was held in May 2005 at NSU for North American organizations working in Central America. IAPB VISION 2020: The Right to Sight The UNESCO Chair is a Level C member of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) consortium of organizations working with the World Health Organization. Serving as the Chair’s representative to the IAPB Council of Members, Dr. Leasher interacts with 162 different international organizations involved in blindness prevention. She also serves on the Sustainability and Partnership Discussion Groups. The Chair has supported the firm actions of the VISION 2020 National Committees in the countries where it works and hosted the first encounter of those committees from Central American countries along with a representative from the Pan American Health Organization in El Salvador in July 2009. The San Salvador Declaration was an agreement signed by all participants at this meeting to achieve national plans that produce results worthy of presentation at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, in May 2010. Proyecto VERAS From the SAVIM study in Central America, Project VERAS was created. Strategic planning at the SAVIM forums highlighted the need to target children for a lifetime of good vision and learning, to raise awareness about visual health in rural areas, to increase the public provision of eye care in rural areas, and to aggressively focus on improving visual health to potentially reduce the level of poverty and illiteracy in areas of extreme poverty. The word veras in Spanish literally means you will see , and the initials ‘V.E.R.A.S’. are an acronym for Vision, Educacion, Rendimiento, Aprendizaje, Sostenibilidad (Vision, Education, Scholastic Improvement, Learning, and Sustainability). Project VERAS is a program targeting children living in the departments of extreme poverty in Central America and serves as a collaboration between the Ministry of Health and Education, the UNESCO Chair, North American universities, and local nongovernmental organizations and universities. This interdisciplinary, inter-sectoral, international collaboration has created a system for school-vision screenings for children entering school, referrals, and optometric/ophthalmologic and optical care through the district-level hospitals. The project includes a community health education component for teachers, health promoters, families, and children about the importance of visual health. The project started in one department of Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala in 2006 and has been brought to scale in El Salvador in the departments of Chaletenango, La Libertad, and Morazan. Resultant studies will be published describing the validity of the screening tool, the epidemiologic profile of ocular conditions found in children, a process evaluation of the system, the change in knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of parents regarding children’s vision, and a description of this successful example of a multi-agency, multidisciplinary, multi-level cooperation for development projects. For more information about the UNESCO Chair in Visual Health and Development, please visit www.unescovision.org or contact Dr. Leasher at leasher@nova.edu .