DHAKA: A two-day long workshop on Vision 2020 began in the city on Monday, marking the World Sight Day.

Professor Deen Mohd. Noorul Huq, Director General of Health Services (DGHS), was present at the inaugural session as the chief guest and Dr Abu Raihan, Co-chair for South East Asia Region of the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), as the special guest.

Professor Dr Jalal Ahmed, Line Director of National Eye Care (NEC) and Director of National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital (NIO&H), presided over the inaugural session.

International NGO Forum for Eye Health and government’s National Eye Care (NEC) jointly organized the workshop.

Professor Noorul Huq said retaining ophthalmologists at the district level is a big challenge.

He said all concerned need to work for overcoming the situation and achieving the goal of Vision 2020.

The Director General of Health Services highlighted the developments in the field of ophthalmology in Bangladesh.

He said eye health services are going to rural areas. He praised the local and international organizations and agencies working in the eye health sector and the public-private partnership for their contribution to the field.

Dr Munir Ahmed, Chair of International NGO Forum for Eye Health and Country Director of Orbis International-Bangladesh, delivered the address of welcome. 

Abu Raihan highlighted the activities of IAPB and presented a paper titled ‘Preparing for the Epidemic: Diabetes and Blindness’.

Dr Munir said the main objectives of the workshop are to understand and refresh Vision 2020 and IAPB strategies, reflect on progress, challenges and issues of Vision 2020 goal in Bangladesh, and draft an outline of Bangladesh Plan of Action on Vision 2020 in line WHO Global Action Plan.

Around 100 eye care professional and officials representing almost all key stakeholders of eye health sector, including Bangladesh government, World Health Organisation, Unicef, International Centre for Eye Health, Orbis, Helen Keller International, BRAC and CBM, other development agencies and organizations, donors, international and local NGOs, Vision 2020 Committee members, and hospitals are attending the workshop.

There will be several sessions, including ‘Universal Eye Health & Vision 2020’, ‘Update on Eye Health of Key Organizations’, and ‘Vision 2020: Bangladesh Plan of Action’, during the workshop.


Blindness is a major health concern in Bangladesh. According to Bangladesh National Blindness and Low Vision Survey Report (2003), there were 750,000 visually impaired people in the country. Experts say 12,000 people are added to the figure every year.

To end this concerning situation, Bangladesh joined the Vision 2020, a global initiative for elimination of avoidable blindness undertaken by the World Health Organization (WHO) and International Agency for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB).
 
BDST: 1826HRS. OCT 20, 2014