World Council of Optometry

17 - 20 September 2012

Location: India

Announcement of the 9^th General Assembly by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness – 17-20 September 2012, India

A world-leading forum for collaboration and change in public health

London, UK, 03 May 2011: The IAPB General Assembly is the premier global event for discussion of public health topics related to blindness and visual impairment. It will highlight progress in VISION 2020: The Right to Sight, the joint initiative between IAPB and WHO for the elimination of avoidable blindness.

With the theme Eye Health – Everyone’s Business, the 9^th General Assembly (9GA) will attract an international audience of health professionals including ophthalmologists, optometrists, policy-makers, industry and NGOs, making it a landmark event in the 2012 health and development calendar.

As many as 284 million people worldwide are blind or visually impaired. Yet 80% of blindness is avoidable – that is, preventable, curable or treatable by known and cost-effective methods. From economic productivity loss in the poorest communities to impacts on personal dignity and empowerment, eye health is already “everyone’s business”.

The Assembly presents an excellent opportunity to ask how we can broaden the responsibility for eye health and reach beyond traditional health care boundaries to put eye health on everyone’s agenda.

The event will feature keynote lectures and speakers who will talk on strengthening health systems, thereby offering opportunities to highlight the linkages between VISION 2020’s objectives and health care delivery. More than 1,000 delegates from across the eye care and health professions will attend the event.

About 9GA

• Theme: Eye Health – Everyone’s Business
• Conference dates: 17-20 September 2012
• Venue: HICC, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India – www.hicc.com
• Abstract submissions open: 1 September 2011
• Registrations open: 1 September 2011 http://9ga.iapb.org/registration?
• Early bird registration deadline: 1 March 2012
• Abstract Submissions close: 1 March 2012 http://9ga.iapb.org/abstract?

For more information, please visit: www.iapb.org and www.VISION2020.org