Fondation CBM Luxembourg hosts a successful 2022 Conference
Fondation CBM Luxembourg holds their conference to drive awareness of the plight of those affected by preventable blindness on World Sight Day.
Fondation CBM Luxembourg hosted their 2022 Conference. “We were delighted to host the event to highlight preventable blindness” said Diane Wolter, President of CBM Luxembourg. “On World Sight Day, it is a chance to remind ourselves how lucky we are to have access to a high standard of eye healthcare in Luxembourg. At the same time, it is a chance to raise awareness of the plight of others around the world without the excellent healthcare we have.”
According to the World Health Organization and their report on global vision, at least 2.2 billion people have vision impairment or blindness, so the task ahead of CBM is huge to tackle visual impairment in the countries most in need.
The event was held at the Auditorium of Banque de Luxembourg, who kindly donated the venue. Attendees could also choose to join the event via Livestream. Around 80 attendees joined to hear about the work CBM is doing to promote eye health in developing countries.
As well as important updates on all the projects CBM Luxembourg is currently carrying out, the agenda also included a guest speaker, Madame Fabienne Pietruk, archaeologist.
Dr Nico Diederich opened the event with his in-depth account of the activities CBM Luxembourg has put in place over the past 12 months in Angola. In Angola, the eye health-care situation is critical; there is no nation-wide coverage of eye diseases, and no systematic detection of myopia. The country is missing treatment of common eye diseases while surgical treatment of cataract is often only available in expensive private clinics.
Dr Nico Diederich explained the goals of CBM Luxembourg in Angola and the work that is ongoing there. Over the past year, a wet lab has been created to allow training eye doctors to practise surgeries on animal eyes. Furthermore, English courses have been put in place to allow doctors to learn English to access trainings in other countries, such as The Gambia.
Frank Groben, Director of CDV Luxembourg, gave the next update on Madagascar. Two volunteers from his team led the installation of un-used auxiliary aids equipment to a school in Madagascar, EPHATA school.
The head of the school, sister Chantal Ruppert, joined via a video message, thanking CBM and CDV while explaining the impact of the aids on the school.
Up next was an interview with Mark Schmid, Head of International Programs at CBM Switzerland. Mark had just returned from a visit to Laos and he was able to recount and share images of his trip where he saw first-hand the impact of the work CBM is doing on inclusive eye healthcare.
The eye healthcare situation in Laos is urgent; the last study on avoidable blindness in Laos from 2017 showed, that only around 54% of the required cataract operations could be carried out. CBM is carrying out projects to expand eye healthcare through the training of additional staff, improved registration of affected people and more efficient allocation of resources at all levels.
The Conference closed with guest speaker, Madame Fabienne Pietruk, archaeologist. She talked through her study of the eye through archaeology and shared many interesting images that depicted the eye through the past 2000 years.
If you would like to know more about our projects, please contact us at info@cbm.lu.