Bihar, the third most populous state in India hosted the 5th Annual General Body Meeting of VISION 2020: The Right to Sight – India, a few days ago. Dr Abdul Kalam, India’s ex-president and VISION 2020 Global Ambassador gave the keynote address, highlighting the scope of need in Bihar. The state has 600,000 people who are blind from cataract, yet the current system caters only to 140,000 every year. While 4.2 million people need refractive correction, only 65,000 have spectacles.
In his characteristic style, Dr Kalam made all the representatives take an oath to deliver quality eye care services to all, irrespective of their ability to pay. Dr Kalam’s speech is now VISION 2020 India’s “Patna Declaration”. We hope to use it as a guiding document for our work in this state and as a template for other states where eye care services are grossly inadequate.
The meeting also hosted technical sessions which were widely attended and appreciated. This AGM has set the benchmark for the future, winning accolades from its varied participants and supporters. The reasons for its success include active participation from all stakeholders – government and NGOs, and the effort put in by the VISION 2020 India team and its partners. We had made a commitment to Dr Kalam that we will hold an Action Oriented General Assembly and we fulfilled our promise.
There is a tremendous sense of fulfillment in our team members that we were able to bring together different organizations onto a common platform. We are so motivated that we are now using the mission statement
“We will eliminate avoidable blindness in India by 2020." The real challenge is to now make sure that the momentum generated does not peter down but results in measurable impact.
The meeting also hosted technical sessions which were widely attended and appreciated. This AGM has set the benchmark for the future, winning accolades from its varied participants and supporters. The reasons for its success include active participation from all stakeholders – government and NGOs, and the effort put in by the VISION 2020 India team and its partners. We had made a commitment to Dr Kalam that we will hold an Action Oriented General Assembly and we fulfilled our promise.There is a tremendous sense of fulfillment in our team members that we were able to bring together different organizations onto a common platform. We are so motivated that we are now using the mission statement
“We will eliminate avoidable blindness in India by 2020." The real challenge is to now make sure that the momentum generated does not peter down but results in measurable impact.This is the power, potential and magic of VISION 2020 INDIA.
The approach used in Bihar is now being replicated by VISION 2020 - INDIA for its Jodhpur, Rajasthan World Sight Day Celebrations, which will feature a celebrity dinner, along with our ever-popular technical sessions, all with the theme "Gender and Eye Health".
Do visit www.VISION2020IndiA.org for more information on our work and activities!
Dr Rajesh Noah,
Executive Director, VISION 2020 India
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