ARCHBISHOP CALLS FOR VISION

International leaders from the arenas of development, human rights, environment, education and social justice attended the World Congress on Refractive Error (WCRE) to discuss "Broadening the Development Agenda" and comment on how poor levels of health care in developing communities is contributing to poverty and restricting economic growth.

The panel of high profile speakers included Dr Kumi Naidoo, Executive Director of Greenpeace International, Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, from African Monitor, Lalita Ramdas, Former President of the International Council for Adult Education, social campaigner Zanele Twala from ActionAid International and noted human rights campaigner Noel Kututwa from Amnesty International.

Chair of the Panel discussion, Dr Naidoo, said, "When we hold global conferences in Africa it's our way of saying that we are a part of solving global problems."

Sharing his perspective on how eye care fits into the development agenda, Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane commented, "Every human being, created in the image of God, should have access to what is required to live."

"From where I come from," he added "it is the moral function of a state to coordinate their resources to assist those in need. We need to have a comprehensive, coherent, coordinated movement with governments, private business, professionals and civil society to ensure that we can live our lives fully and we reach the goals of VISION 2020 the Right to Sight."

Zanele Twala, from ActionAid International, gave a gender perspective on development. She noted that gender is still a primary cause of poverty. Women are more likely to be living in poverty. She commented, "Hunger, poverty and equality are entwined. If your children do not have enough to eat they are unlikely to go to school or access health care."

She added, "We meet at a time when our leaders are meeting in New York to discuss the Millennium Development Goals. I know we are unlikely to achieve the first goal to alleviate extreme poverty. I also wonder whether the measures we are taking now will achieve our goals in eye care, but I have hope."

Noel Kututwa, from Amnesty International, spoke passionately about basic human rights and how they are linked, "All human beings should enjoy all human rights, economic, political, social rights including the right to enjoy good health. All rights must come together at once – not social rights without political rights or economic rights", he said.

But it was Lalita Ramdas, activist and Former President of the International Council for Adult Education, who drew together the economic hurdles that prevent eye care from achieving its critical goal of reducing avoidable blindness and vision impairment by 2020. She asked those attending, "Why is it, and what is it, that prevents us from in fact being able to find the solutions...the $5billion dollars Professor Holden said would probably deal with the problem across the world?" She compared the sum to other alarming global costs saying, "We have spent trillions bailing out banks."

"To address the issue of providing eye care to more than 670 million in need of an eye examination and glasses to see clearly, most in the developing world," she suggested, "we need awareness."

"It is still a sad fact that numbers are increasing of those suffering from malnutrition, poverty, literacy issues and, of course, the need for eye care", she added. "We must get our priorities right. We need greater awareness and partnerships to bring this together", she added.

The link between avoidable vision impairment and poverty is well-established. The disability has a major impact on people's lives, creating profound economic disadvantage, affecting education and employment opportunities and creating social isolation.

With the country's attention on the ANC annual conference, also taking place at the International Convention Centre, the joint staging of WCRE and World Conference on Optometric Education (WCOE) is drawing the spotlight onto the tragedy of avoidable blindness and vision impairment affecting so many lives in South Africa and throughout the world.

Chair of the Panel, Dr Kumi Naidoo, said "History teaches us that change takes place and we move forward when decent men and women say enough is enough and when things are far too serious for us to have a business-as-usual approach."

He concluded, "Whether its alleviation of poverty or blindness and vision impairment the best thing we can do is to commit to a lifetime of involvement and to achieving the goal."

Download the Durban Commitment 2010 and watch the signing at www.icee.org