AAO's Education Distribution Project works to eliminate avoidable blindness in most vulnerable countries
SAN FRANCISCO – The American Academy of Ophthalmology AAO today announced that it has distributed 360 Basic and Clinical Science Course BCSC sets 13 books each, a complete curriculum in ophthalmology, to residency training programs in 67 developing nations. Each year the AAO provides hundreds of boxes of educational materials to ophthalmology residency programs in developing countries through its Education Distribution Project. In 2010, the shipments accounted for a total 4680 books.
Of the 360 BCSC distributed, 200 sets were made possible through a collaboration of the AAO and the International Council of Ophthalmology ICO to provide a joint shipment of sets in developing nations. The ICO's effort is supported in part by a grant from Alcon. The training of eye care professionals is one of the most important actions needed to reduce preventable blindness in developing countries.
The Education Distribution Project contributes to the prevention of avoidable blindness in the most vulnerable countries by supporting the education of ophthalmologists.
"In the name of all the Iraqi ophthalmologists, thank you for the wonderful books we received and distributed to the postgraduate students in hospitals all over Iraq," added Tara Rashid, MD, an Education Distribution Project recipient from Iraq.
The 2010 Education Distribution Project recipients included:
- Afghanistan
- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
- Bangladesh
- Bolivia
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Cambodia
- China, PR
- Colombia
- Congo, Democratic Republic
- Cuba
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- Egypt
- El Salvador
- Ethiopia
- Fiji
- Gambia
- Georgia
- Ghana
- Guatemala
- Guinea, Rep. of
- Haiti
- Honduras
- India
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Iraq
- Jordan
- Kazakhstan
- Kenya
- Kosovo Albania
- Kyrgyzstan
- Laos
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Moldova
- Mongolia
- Mozambique
- Myanmar
- Namibia
- Nepal
- Nigeria
- Pakistan
- Palestine
- Papua New Guinea
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Philippines
- Serbia
- Solomon Islands
- Sri Lanka
- Sudan
- Syria
- Tajikistan
- Tanzania
- Thailand
- Togo
- Turkmenistan
- Uganda
- Ukraine
- Uzbekistan
- Vietnam
- Yemen
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
The AAO's Education Distribution Project will help to enrich the study of ophthalmology at the training institutions in these areas of the world and impact the lives of the patients who look to them for care.
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About the American Academy of Ophthalmology
The American Academy of Ophthalmology is the world's largest association of eye physicians and surgeons—Eye M.D.s—with more than 29,000 members worldwide. Eye health care is provided by the three "O's" – opticians, optometrists and ophthalmologists. It is the ophthalmologist, or Eye M.D., who can treat it all: eye diseases and injuries, and perform eye surgery. To find an Eye M.D. in your area, visit the Academy's Web site at www.aao.org.