We are pleased to share with you that the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology (APAO) is organizing its twelfth Asia-Pacific Eye Care Week in the third week of October, from 10 – 16 October 2022, in conjunction with World Sight Day 2022 (13 October 2022).
This year, the Public Education Standing Committee has invited two subspecialty member societies – Asia-Pacific Society of Ocular Oncology and Pathology (APSOOP) with the topic Eye Cancer in Children and the Asia-Pacific Ocular Imaging Society (APOIS) with the topic Imaging the Eye: Helping the World to See, to co-organize the 2022 Eye Care Week.
APSOOP has helped to produce a comprehensive set of educational materials and a media kit. APOIS has launched the APAO-APOIS Imaging Competition to celebrate the Asia-Pacific Eye Care Week. The contest began on World Sight Day in October 2022 and concluded in early January. The highly anticipated competition received over 800 submissions across ten categories. Please visit https://apois.ocularimaging.net/ to view the top three overall winners and the winners and runners-up for each of the 10 categories. Note: Please click on the submission no. to view the image.
Details of the APSOOP and APOIS programs are available below under the Media Kit section.
Member societies are invited to use the APSOOP reference materials for public educational purposes and join the APOIS Imaging Competition during the 12th Asia-Pacific Eye Care Week. Member societies are encouraged to translate the educational materials and media kit into the local language for more effective communication.
Please do also share with us the public educational and community service activities you will be organizing in your locality during this period.
Media Kit
- 12th Asia-Pacific Eye Care Week Leaderboard banner (PNG)
- 12th Asia-Pacific Eye Care Week Square pop-up banner (PNG)
- 12th Asia-Pacific Eye Care Week Medium rectangle banner (PNG)
- 12th Asia-Pacific Eye Care Week banner AI file
- Eye Cancer in Children
- Imaging the Eye: Helping the World to See
12th Asia-Pacific Eye Care Week: A Huge Success
The 12th Asia-Pacific Eye Care Week was organized on October 10 – 16, 2022 to coincide with the World Sight Day (October 13). We are excited to share the various campaigns launched both online and offline by national member societies and ophthalmic organizations in
Brunei, China, Hong Kong (China), Malaysia, Pakistan, and Thailand.
The Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology (APAO) would like to thank the Public Education Standing Committee for co-organizing the 2022 Eye Care Week, the Asia-Pacific Society of Ocular Oncology and Pathology (APSOOP) for producing a comprehensive set of educational materials and a media kit for all APAO member societies to use, and the Asia-Pacific Ocular Imaging Society (APOIS) for launching its inaugural APOIS Imaging Competition, as well as all member societies that participated in this important event.
Let’s look at the summary of this year’s activities.
In Brunei …
With the theme “Love Your Eyes”, the celebration of the Brunei Ophthalmology Society featured an awareness and screening event which involved the Minister of Health of Brunei. Over 100 individuals were screened on the day, and the “Artificial Intelligence for Diabetic Retinopathy Screening” trial was launched. Click here for a media report.
In China …
The “Eye Health Package” was launched in October to celebrate the World Sight Day, with the event hosted by the National Committee for the Prevention of Blindness (NCPB) and the Chinese Society of Public Health Ophthalmology (CSPHO) in Beijing.
At the opening ceremony, Ruoqi Xing, Deputy Director of the Bureau of Medical Administration of the National Health Commission, Prof Ningli Wang, Director of NCPB and President of CSPHO, Amanda Davis, Regional Chair of the International Association for the Prevention of Blindness – Western Pacific, Matthew Burton, Director of the International Center for Eye Health, and Brandon Ah Tong, Head of Public Policy and Advocacy at the Fred Hollow Foundation, delivered opening remarks, emphasizing the importance of eye health advocacy.
As the Editor-in-Chief, Prof Ningli Wang introduced the background, main content, and significance of the “Eye Health Package.” The package was designed to serve the purposes of sharing important documents and reports in the field of eye health in recent years, so as to help eye health workers keep abreast of the domestic and international eye health work trend, research progress, development status and work goals. As one of the key contents in the package, the Chinese translation of Lancet Global Health Global Eye Health Commission was launched. The Commission aimed at providing comprehensive information on the development of eye health globally and the Chinese translation should allow more Chinese eye health workers to make full use of this valuable material.
After the launch ceremony, eye health experts delivered lectures titled “The 14th Five-Year Plan for Eye Health and 2030 In Sight”, “The Lancet Global Eye Health Commission”, “IPEC Training Course”, “Eye Health of Children and Adolescents in China” and “Project-based IPEC practice in China”. In addition, panel discussions on “Poverty Alleviation Through Sight Restoration – Cataract Project”, “Innovative DR Intervention”, “Eye Health Economics”, “New Technologies (Mobile Health) in Eye Care” and “Integration and Improvement of Primary Eye Care Services” were held. Thousands of people watched the live broadcast online, and the popularity of the launch event reached 35,000 hits.
In Hong Kong, China …
A number of community service activities took place in Hong Kong during the 12th Asia-Pacific Eye Care Week.
Public Education Campaign 2021-22 on Glaucoma
The College of Ophthalmologists of Hong Kong (COHK) and the Hong Kong Ophthalmological Society (HKOS) jointly organized the Public Education Campaign 2021-22 titled “Beat Glaucoma (護眼抗青光)” to increase the awareness of glaucoma among the general public. The campaign included the setting up of a campaign website, social media publicity, video production, health talks, radio promotion, and a media group interview.
A media group interview was held on October 16, with Dr Bonnie Choy and Dr Poemen Chan as speakers, to raise public awareness of glaucoma and to share up-to-date information about laser treatment for glaucoma (selective laser trabeculoplasty). It was well covered by the local media:
- i-CABLE
- Hong Kong Economic Journal
- Ming Pao
- AM730
- Sky Post
- Headline Daily
- Ta Kung Pao
- Capital Magazine
- Bastille Post
- TOPick News
CUHK Health Exhibition 2022
The Medical Society of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) organized the CUHK Health Exhibition 2022 in October, and the HKOS was one of the sponsors. The health exhibition aimed at acquainting the general public with medical knowledge. The topic of this year was “Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences” with the title “Health InSight”, which signified their commitment to assist citizens to take control of their own visual health in this era of COVID-19. The exhibition included board displays, health check stations, and featured talks which all focused on the discussion of prevalent diseases associated with this theme. The Hong Kong Secondary School Health Exhibition Presentation Competition was also held to bring related health knowledge to secondary students. In addition, booklets with further information on the theme were distributed during the exhibition.
Orbis-HKOS World Sight Day Collaboration
A survey about eye health in Hong Kong was jointly conducted by the Orbis and the Hong Kong Ophthalmological Society (HKOS) under the World Sight Day campaign, generating 6,253 responses and a good number of media coverage. Results were released via media interviews on October 13.
In Malaysia …
The Malaysian Society of Ophthalmology arranged a series of activities to commemorate World Sight Day. Among them were:
- Organized a TikTok competition on how to #LoveYourEyes. This contest is to raise awareness of World Sight Day 2022 and its theme of #LoveYourEyes. The competition is ongoing until the end of October.
- Prepared a Joint Statement with the Malaysian Health Coalition (MHC) urging all parties to “Integrate Vision Care into Holistic Public Health“. This call to action involved 4 key points:
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- Implement routine annual eye screening among at-risk populations
- Eliminate dubious and misleading advertisements for eye products
- Practice strict adherence to workplace eye
- Strictly regulate consumer fireworks
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- Preparation of educational infographic posters that catered to both adults’ and children’s eye health. These posters were circulated among their members, and on the social media platform to be disseminated to as many people as possible.
- A donation was made to the Malaysian Blind Football team to help with their preparation for the Asia Blind Football Championship 2022, which was also a qualifier event for the World Championship in Birmingham 2023. This donation was presented at a simple ceremony held at MSO’s office on October 8. During this ceremony, representatives from the Ministry of Health Malaysia, Malaysian Medical Association (MMA), Malaysian Universities Conjoint Committee on Ophthalmology (MUCCO), and Asia-Pacific Ophthalmic Trauma Society (APOTS) were in attendance. A/Prof Tengku Ain shared a media release by APOTS highlighting the importance of increasing public awareness on the prevention and management of ocular trauma.
The activities garnered attention from the media industry, with the links as below:
In Pakistan …
Various events occurred in Pakistan to celebrate the World Sight Day and the 12th Asia-Pacific Eye Care Week.
Awareness Walk conducted at Lahore General Hospital
The Department of Ophthalmology, Lahore General Hospital organized a walk which was aimed at raising awareness among the public regarding eye protection, diseases, and protective measures. Prof Muhammad Moin, Prof Agha Shabbir, Prof Muhammad Shahid, Dr Lubni Siddique, doctors, nurses, paramedical staff, and patients participated in this awareness walk.
Prof Muhammad Moin, Head of Ophthalmology Department of Lahore General Hospital, highlighted the aims and objectives of this awareness walk. He said that this department organized such activities every year to provide awareness to the common man about eye diseases.
Activities in Islamabad of Pakistan
There were celebrations for the World Sight Day at the CDA Hospital in Islamabad, Pakistan.
In Thailand …
The Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus Society of Thailand made many poster files and videos on Youtube. The Royal College of Ophthalmologists of Thailand (RCOPT) posted those infographic posters to raise awareness of childhood eye cancer on their Facebook and other websites.
