HYDERABAD, India—The 9th General Assembly of the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness, a major international conference on eyewear, just concluded its meeting here, Sept. 17-20, with nearly 1,600 participants from 87 countries. Delegates included ophthalmologists and optometrists.  
 
IAPB is an umbrella organization that leads international efforts in blindness prevention. Its previous general assembly, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 2008, attracted 800 participants from 60 countries.

The meeting, titled 'Eye Health: Everyone's Business', focuses on eliminating avoidable blindness globally by 2020 and includes international NGOs, professional associations, eye care institutions and corporations.
 
IAPB promoted the establishment of a WHO Programme for Prevention of Blindness, with which it has remained strongly linked, and which is now embodied in the global initiative, VISION 2020: The Right to Sight.
 
According to WHO data shared by officials of the L.V. Prasad Eye Institute, which is involved in organizing the Hyderabad event, India has some 63 million cases of visual impairment out of a total of 285 million cases worldwide. An estimated 80 per cent of all visual impairment is avoidable, which means that it can be prevented, treated or cured.
 
Details of the agenda, posters and presentations at the meeting are posted here.