Orbis India Newsletter Volume 2, Issue 3

From the Director’s Desk Greetings from Orbis! It has been a very busy quarter at Orbis India. The launch of our new program REACH - Refractive Error Among Children across the country has added new members to our team and allowed us to build on the work we have already done under the India Childhood Blindness Initiative. We are grateful to Qatar Creating Vision, a joint initiative of the Qatar Development Fund and Orbis currently supporting work in India and Bangladesh, for providing this opportunity to ‘reach’ out to the children of our country. Support also came in from GE Aviation as a team of volunteers participated in an eye screening camp in Chennai in collaboration with the team from Elite School of Optometry. As always, we are very happy when we have visitors and this quarter we had two teams visiting us. A group of school students and Orbis colleagues from the UK visited India for a study tour; thank you to the H.V. Desai Eye Hospital, Pune for hosting them. And our colleagues from China brought a team of senior ophthalmic professionals to visit many of our partners where they came across a wealth of ideas to further the cause of ‘Eye Care for All’. Read about these and more in this issue. Dr. Rahul Ali Country Director - India Orbis International

Our new Flying Eye Hospital took flight The third generation Orbis Flying Eye Hospital, MD-10, is here! We extend our gratitude to FedEx and all the other donors for such generous support. It is the world’s only mobile ophthalmic teaching hospital in a plane. The aircraft has been custom designed to provide the best medical training and technology throughout the world. The new MD-10 was unveiled on June 2 along with a retirement party for the DC10 plane which was attended by many FEH alumni and guests. The aircraft took flight from Los Angeles on June 4 after which it flew to five additional U.S. locations, namely, New York, Washington D.C, Memphis, Texas and Sacramento. The Flying Eye Hospital will then depart to Asia to conduct its inaugural program in Shenyang, China this September.

Nearly 600 from across the country attend VISION 2020’s Annual Conference The two-day 12th Annual Conference of VISION 2020: The Right to Sight India – “Eye Care for All” saw an overwhelming attendance of close to six hundred participants. From senior State and Central health ministry officials, heads of eye hospitals, policymakers to the backbone of eye hospitals like ophthalmologists, optometrists, and others, participants packed the halls. There were 22 sessions in five tracks spread across June 04 and 05. Orbis representatives Aditi Modi presented on ‘School Vision Screening Program: Refractive Errors and Beyond’ and Arnab Sarkar presented on ‘Barriers For Conducting Outreach Activities and its Management (Pediatric).’ A highlight of the event was an interactive session with Joint Secretary, Ms. Dharitri Panda and DDG(O), Dr. Promila Gupta. Ms. Panda lauded Vision 2020 for organizing a conference that brought together participants from across the country to discuss practical issues related to eye health.

Orbis awarded champion for vision for dedication to children’s eye health Orbis was recognized as a Champion for Vision at the annual American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (AAPOS) meeting in Vancouver, Canada. On behalf of Orbis, Ms. Danielle Bogert, Director of Global Faculty Relations and Clinical Services, accepted the award. It was given jointly by the Children’s Eye Foundation and AAPOS to celebrate extraordinary efforts in championing children’s vision. AAPOS President Dr. M. Edward Wilson praised Orbis for its dedication and commitment to children’s eye health.

GE Aviation team spent a day with us screening and engaging school children Leaders from GE Aviation participated in a school screening program organized by Orbis and Elite School of Optometry, Sankara Nethralaya. While one team of volunteers supported the hospital staff in screening children, another team entered the screening data real-time into the hospital’s software. But the favorite among the students were the two teams which conducted science experiments using light and made optical instruments such as kaleidoscopes and gifted them to students. The interest and enthusiasm of the GE Aviation team was remarkable. Neither the scorching heat nor the beads of sweat dampened their spirits.

Arunachal Pradesh state action plan ready for implementation In a one-day meeting on April 22, 2016 at Itanagar, the final State Action Plan for the Prevention of Avoidable Blindness and Visual Impairment in Arunachal Pradesh was developed and is now ready for implementation. The process for this was started during November 2015 when VISION 2020 INDIA conducted a Situation Analysis in Changlang and Lower Subansiri districts of Arunachal Pradesh. The active involvement of Dr. Taba Khanna, SPO Arunachal Pradesh throughout the process added muchneeded context and efficiency. Government officials of Arunachal Pradesh [Commissioner Health, Joint Secretary-Ministry of HFW, Joint Director-Medical Education, Nodal Officer-CM Health Insurance Scheme, Director Health Services] also took an active part in both the situational analysis and the formulation of the state plan. Kudos to VISION 2020 INDIA on this achievement!

Senior team of ophthalmic professionals from China visits Orbis India A senior team of ophthalmic professionals from Orbis partner institutions in China visited India to learn more about eye care delivery and management in the country. This 15-member team included 13 partner representatives and two colleagues from the Orbis China Office. During the 10-day tour, the team visited some of our partners across the country, namely, Aravind Eye Care System in Madurai, Sankara Nethralaya in Chennai, Dr. Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital in New Delhi and Sadguru Netra Chikitsalaya in Chitrakoot. The team from China was amazed at the variety of methods implemented by our partners to train staff and volunteers, as well as planning, managing and delivering eye care services. They took back a wealth of ideas which they believe will help them serve the cause of eye care better.

Orbis India family is growing The Orbis India family is growing as we have eight new team members. Manmeet Singh has joined us as Senior Program Manager; Abhishek Kumar Jha, Madhav Anand and Shafali Bhagat as Program Managers; Rahul Kumar is our Manager - Program Technology; Komal Arora our Finance Manager; Annu Choudhury our Communications Officer and Nitasha Arora our Executive Assistant. Please join us in welcoming all of them!

H.V. Desai Eye Hospital hosts team of students from UK Five high school students from ACS International School, UK and Doha along with two members of the Orbis UK team made a visit to the Orbis country program as part of a journalism initiative sponsored by their school. Hosted by H.V. Desai Eye Hospital in Pune, the team had an enriching experience as they took a detailed tour of the hospital among other activities. They visited a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) to witness Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) screening, a Diabetic Hospital for Diabetic Retinopathy screening and saw how the Panchgani Vision Center functioned. The students also participated in a school screening that was conducted by the Vision Center. Other visits on their agenda included a tour of a school for blind and the Operation Theatre Complex where they viewed a couple of surgeries from the gallery.

Stories along the Orbis journey!

Alka, a sixth-grade student at a school for blind, found liberty when her vision was restored. Poor vision due to Congenital Cataract troubled the 10-year-old for a good six years until C.L. Gupta Eye Institute, an Orbis partner hospital, identified her, conducted surgery and restored her vision. Today, Alka is happy that she is not only independent but can also help her loving mother with household chores.

Upcoming events August 08, 2016 Ophthalmology Innovation Summit (OIS) at the American Society of Retina Specialists (ASRS), San Francisco, California August 13 – 15, 2016 In-Optics 2016 "Optical Trade Fair & Exhibition” at Milan Mela, Kolkata August 13 – 15, 2016 "ISCKRS Meet 2016" Annual Conference of Indian Society of Cornea & Keratorefractive Surgeons at India Habitat Center, New Delhi August 25 – 26, 2016 4th COECSA Annual Scientific Conference, Ngurdoto Mountain in Arusha, Tanzania September 03 – 04, 2016 "WCOA-2016" 4th World Congress of Ophthalmic Anesthesia at ITC Grand Chola, Chennai September 10 - 14, 2016 European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons at Copenhagen, Denmark September 30, 2016 Ophthalmic Imaging: from Theory to Current Practice, CAP15 Conference Center, Paris, October 01 – 02, 2016 "iSamanvay16" 44th Annual All Gujarat Ophthalmological Society & 27th Annual Oculoplastics Association of India Conference, Baroda

Upcoming events October 05 – 08, 2016 European Association for Vision and Eye Research (EVER) 2016 at Nice, France October 13 – 15, 2016 Global Ophthalmology and Glaucoma Conference at Kualalampur, Malaysia October 15 – 18, 2016 American Academy of Ophthalmology 2016 at Chicago, USA November 03 – 06, 2016 NUH Eye International Congress 2016, Singapore November 18 - 20, 2016 "KOSCON 2016" 35th Annual Karnataka State Ophthalmic Conference at UVA Meridian Convention Center, Udupi November 30th - December 4, 2016 25th Vitreo Retinal Society India 2016 Annual Conference at Hyatt Regency, Chandigarh December 02 - 04, 2016 AAPOS/SPOSI 2016: An Intercontinental Perspective of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus at Marriott Hotel, Jaipur December 03, 2016 ART 2016 - Advanced Retinal Therapy at Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria December 05 - 06, 2016 7th European Ophthalmology Congress at Madrid, Spain

Orbis International India Country Office, 6th Floor, Fortune Tower II, Plot No. 406, Udyog Vihar Phase III, Gurgaon, Haryana - 122016, India Tel: 91-124-4284601 Fax: 91-124-4284602 Email: [email protected]

We are an International not-for-profit organization working for eye care. Our programs focus on the prevention of blindness and the treatment of blinding eye disease specially among children. We have been working in India for over a decade and have established the world’s largest network of Children’s Eye Centers in any one country; 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 life-changing. And we change lives!