 MBBS PhD, Chair of LV Prasad Eye Institute; Chair of the International Centre for Eye Care Education (ICEE)
An entrepreneur of solutions for eye health, Professor Gullapalli (Nag) Rao is widely respected for the creation of sustainable, high quality, comprehensive eye care delivery and as the father of the vision centre model which is transforming vision care across India and inspiring development worldwide. He personifies dedication to a cause and is internationally recognised as an ambassador for eye health.
Prof Rao’s awards and honours are exhaustive. He established the L V Prasad Eye Institute after a successful career in the US as an academic Ophthalmologist. Prof Rao received his basic medical education in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, and completed his postgraduate residency training at the All India Institute for Medical Sciences, New Delhi. In the US, he trained at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, and later at the School of Medicine, University of Rochester, where he continued as a faculty member until 1986.
Prof Rao has specialised in diseases of the cornea, eye banking and corneal transplantation, community eye health, eye care policy and planning. He has published over 250 papers and contributed several book chapters. From 2004-2008, he served as Chair of the Board of Trustees, President and CEO of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, where he played an important role leading VISION 2020: The Right to Sight, the global initiative to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020.
Abstract
Global blindness is a serious public health problem. The recognition of this fact lead to the evolution of VISION 2020: The Right to Sight - the global initiative to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020.
The VISION 2020 strategy is based on several essential activities, including disease control, human
resource development and infrastructure and technology development.
Nearly 75 percent of blindness is avoidable and 90 percent of the problem is in developing countries. There is a clear need to identify gaps in eye care delivery and to methodically address them to make the
necessary impact.
Advocacy, resource mobilisation and and a coordinated effort are required to make progress. This has been initiated at the global level with good success. A favourable outcome has been the important recognition achieved through the World Health Asembly Resolution [WHA 59.25] making prevention of blindness a priority Health Care area for the World Health Organization (WHO). Other visible signs of progress include the significant recognition of the VISION 2020 brand globally, a substantial increase in the overall funding for blindness prevention and much better coordination among stakeholder groups. WHO reported a reduction in the number of blind from 45 million in 1995 to 37 million in 2002, an important achievement.
In addition to the imperative to address avoidable blindness, uncorrected refractive error is a major problem constituting nearly half of all vision impairment. An increasing prevalence of problems such as glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration further add to the burden.
An infrastructure model has been developed by our group that seeks to enhance the delivery of eye care. It employs core principles of quality, equity, sustainability, team approach and community participation as a way of tackling all problems identified as priority areas for VISION 2020: The Right to Sight. |
