CBM a key sponsor and program partner of IAPB General Assembly

CBM is a key sponsor of the IAPB’s 10th General Assembly (10GA) from 27-30 October 2016 which will be held in Durban, South Africa. The 10GA is the biggest event in the 2016 eye health calendar and will bring together global experts in eye health, eye health institutions, NGOs, networks and government representatives to discuss public health issues related to blindness and visual impairment. With the theme “Stronger Together”, IAPB aims to build and strengthen partnerships and ensure a united voice.

Sagar (9 years old) hails from a remote village in West Bengal, India. He has developmental cataracts. At Biratnagar Eye Hospital - a CBM partner in Nepal, the boy received cataract surgery on his left eye.

CBM

From 27 to 30 October 2016 CBM will attend the 10th General assembly of the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) in Durban, which will be attended by about 1600 delegates from leading organisations around the world. This meeting is of paramount importance to build partnerships and ensure a unified voice across the eye health sector.

CBM is a sponsor and program partner of the 10th General assembly of the IAPB. Dr.Babar Qureshi (Global Advisor on Eye Health and Director for NTDs at CBM) and David Lewis (Director of Strategic Programmes at CBM Australia) will be conducting a course entitled ‘Inclusion made easy in Eye Health programmes'.

Other CBM experts, who will present on other sessions during the 3 day programme include Heiko Philippin on glaucoma, Martin Kollman on onchocerciasis and Valerie Scherrer (CBM’s Emergency Response Director) who will lead a course on eye care needs during emergencies.

2016 marks a significant milestone for CBM. It is the 50 year anniversary of CBM's first supported cataract surgery, performed in Afghanistan in 1966. Since then CBM has worked to ensure the world's poorest people access their right to eye health. Our dynamic partnership with IAPB and its members has been key to our ongoing achievements. CBM is therefore proud to be an sponsor of the 2016 General Assembly, and to have the opportunity to share its approaches in Inclusive Eye Health. Our vision is a world in which eye care services are accessible and welcoming to all people with disabilities, including those with vision impairment, and to all members of the community. We also want to ensure that people with long term vision impairment access their right to wider opportunities. For CBM, Inclusive Eye Health is essential if we are to reach the poorest and most marginalised people and ‘leaving no-one behind’. 

Connect with us and know more

Follow live coverage of the IAPB GA on Facebook, Twitter and the CBM blog.

CBM started off as an organisation primarily serving blind people. Our founder Pastor Ernst J. Christoffel founded a home in Malatia, Turkey back in 1908, for children who were blind, with other disabilities or orphaned. Since then our mandate has widened from working mainly with people who are blind, to seeking to give all persons with disabilities access to basic healthcare and other services. 

However restoring vision and working with people with vision impairment still remains one of our most fundamental activities. This year CBM celebrates 50 years of helping restore the miracle of sight through cataract surgery to over 13 million people since 1966… and we are still going strong!

CBM’s work with NTDs

CBM supports Neglected Tropical Diseases control programmes in areas where these diseases are identified as a public health problem. It has been successfully involved in the prevention of blindness from onchocerciasis and trachoma for more than 20 years. Building on its experience and expertise, and on its long-standing relationship with partner organisations and their networks all over the world, CBM is fully committed to engaging in fighting the five major NTDs (trachoma, onchocerciasis, lymphatic Filariasis, schistosomiasis, and soil-transmitted helminths). CBM is dedicated to working with partners at the global, regional and country levels to support national programmes and their efforts to control or eliminate NTDs in line with WHO and national programme guidelines.

CBM NTD Report 2016:

More than 1 billion people – one-sixth of the world’s population – are affected by one or more neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), and another 2 billion people are at risk, mainly in the tropics and sub-tropics. Take a look at our Neglected Tropical Diseases Report 2016 for more information about our work with NTDs.


Download the report

Inclusive eye health:

‘Inclusion Made Easy in Eye Health Programs’ is designed for program staff in international development organisations. It is a practical guide on how to ensure eye-health programs are disability-inclusive. It is accompanied by a handy brochure/ poster with 10 tips for getting started.


Download the broschure
CBM has pioneered an inclusive eye health approach to comprehensive eye care delivery. We stand committed to this approach being scaled up and becoming integrated in health systems so that we can reach many more persons with disabilities, thus improving access and quality of lives.
Babar Qureshi, CBM Director for NTDs

The mission of the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) is to eliminate the main causes of avoidable blindness and visual impairment by bringing together governments and non-governmental agencies to facilitate the planning, development and implementation of sustainable national eye care programmes.

CBM and IAPB together promote VISION 2020: The Right to Sight, the joint initiative with the World Health Organization (WHO) for the elimination of avoidable blindness by the year 2020.

CBM publishes its NTD Report 2016

The NTD Report 2016 provides details of our work in NTDs in 17 countries across the globe.


Read more

Eyeglasses bring hope for Ashika

Ashika from Nepal is a low vision client of Biratnagar Eye Hospital (BEH). She received glasses provided by BEH and has better vision now.