January 2025 Newsletter

The first month of a new year brings messages of hope and positivity. The exemplary work of our chapters working in Uganda and Nigeria, watch the video of Prof Moore’s lecture on vision screening of children, access resources on glaucoma, Spanish versions of key documents, and invitations from partners to important events plus President's Santiago call for more humanity and compassion. Do not forget to share news about your work. Contact us at vosh@vosh.org

President's Insights

This January President Santiago reflects on the power of empathy, humanity and compassion in a challenging world.

Read the whole article in English here and the Spanish here.

News from our chapters

VOSH-Northwest in Uganda

Dr Willow Thompson shares a journal of the clinic held by VOSH-NW in Uganda last year. This is a detailed account of the wonderful journey of an interprofessional team, great local hosts, and over 2,100 patients served in a beautiful country.

You can read the report here

Dr Thompson can be contacted at idrwillow@hotmail.com

VOSH/International ran a poster competition at its 2023 annual meeting. This year, we will repeat the initiative at our annual meeting in Boston. Do not miss the opportunity to participate and win support for your humanitarian work. More details will be announced soon.

SVOSH-UBENIN is Chapter of the Month

January starts with a bang! Nothing beats enthusiasm and the SVOSH chapter at the University of Benin in Nigeria. SVOSH-UNIBEN is Chapter of the Month because of their infectious enthusiasm, collaborative attitude, strong leadership, engaged faculty adviser, and capacity to motivate more optometry students to find joy in serving through optometry. Read more about their work here, enjoy some pictures and a link to a video.

You can nominate a deserving VOSH or SVOSH chapter as Chapter of the Month here.

Addressing the gaps in vision care in Latin America. SVOSH chapters work featured

Prof Kovin Naidoo, Global Head of Advocacy and Patnerships at the OneSight Essilor Luxxotica Foundation highlights the importance of research in Latin America referring to two studies carried out in Colombia and Panama.

VOSH/International’s SVOSH chapters from Panama and Puerto Rico led one of the studies. Read the blog here

News from our partners

Recording of A Practical and Evidenced-Based Approach To Vision Screening of Children available

If you missed this wonderful lecture by Prof. Moore, you can watch the recording here.

This interesting webinar was attended by 506 participants from 98 countries.

Spanish version of the WCO Competency Framework For Optometry

This important document is now available in Spanish. You can find the original English version here and the Spanish version here.

January is US Glaucoma Month

Prevent Blindness has curated an important set of educational resources on glaucoma including videos, infographics, and featured an important study on “Prevalence of glaucoma among US adults in 2022”. You can find more information here. Some resources are also available in Spanish

Interesting events

Child Eye Health Virtual Symposium, February 20-21

Vision plays a crucial role in a child’s development, education, and overall well-being, yet millions of children worldwide face preventable or unaddressed vision issues. This virtual symposium brings global experts, thought leaders and practitioners to discuss the current state of child eye health, the far-reaching impact of uncorrected vision problems, and practical, innovative solutions to ensure every child can achieve a brighter future. You can register here and check the program here.

Get a discount if you are attending the WCO5 Congress

VOSH/International is an affiliate member of WCO. If you are attending this year’s WCO%/Optometry’s Meeting 2025 use the promotional code WCOPROMO25 to access this discount. And consider presenting a poster at this event.

The call for poster abstracts is open until February 14^th. More details here.

Are you attending the Optometry's Meeting I WCO5 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA in June? Let us know at vosh@vosh.org. It will be a wonderful opportunity to meet old and new friends.

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