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Insights from the ‘Rb-NET Challenges’ Session: Evolving approaches in global retinoblastoma management

The Retinoblastoma Network (Rb-NET) Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) platform, developed by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Professor Ido Didi Fabian, is a web-based telemedicine initiative that regularly hosts virtual MDT meetings focused on the evaluation and...

Building capacity in eye health: A story of partnerships and collaborations

In the evolving landscape of global eye health, partnerships and collaborations have been instrumental in driving capacity building and professional development. The impact of strategic alliances like VISION 2020 LINKS and the Diabetic Retinopathy Network (DR-NET) cannot be overstated, as...

100 years since Sir William Duke-Elder graduated from the University of St Andrews

With sincere thanks to Andrew King, Ophthalmic Optician and owner of Andrew King Opticians near Glasgow, for his extensive research into Duke-Elder’s life.' Sir William Stewart Duke-Elder. Photo credit: Edward Irvine Halliday, Institute of Ophthalmology. In the world of ophthalmology,...

VISION 2020 LINKS Programme and DR-NET World Sight Day Workshop

World Sight Day (WSD) was celebrated globally on 8 October 2020 [1]. From Australia and the Pacific to the Americas, via Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, awareness-raising and advocacy activities took place throughout the day, to focus attention on unnecessary...

Rb-NET: a network to save life and preserve vision in children in Africa

Responding to need is a key element underpinning the VISION 2020 LINKS Programme [1]. It is embedded in the process through which LINKS are established, with institutions in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) first defining their priority areas of training...

6.6.2020 – a celebration of international partnerships

The date 6.6.2020 was selected as a significant milestone for celebrating the achievements of the VISION LINKS Programme as part of the global ‘VISION 2020: The Right to Sight’ initiative [1]. This virtual full-day seminar included LINK partners in the...

Establishing an intra-arterial chemotherapy service for children with retinoblastoma in Nigeria for the first time

This is the first in a series of three articles (see Part 2 here) about strengthening eye health services in Nigeria through collaboration with the LINKS and Networks run at the International Centre for Eye Health, London School of Hygiene...

A personal reflection: working at the International Centre for Eye Health from 2006–2024

I feel incredibly fortunate to have been working part-time at the International Centre for Eye Health (ICEH) [1] since 2006. Earlier in my career, the responsibilities of work and a growing family made this merely an aspiration, and apart from...

How do you solve the problem of trachoma in Ethiopia?

Background Trachoma is one of the oldest diseases known to humankind and the leading infectious cause of blindness worldwide. Spread by the bacterium chlamydia trachomatis, it is transmitted through contact with the eyes, eyelids and nose of those infected. The...

Blame the lens – not its position – in refractive surprise

Aetiology of postoperative refractive surprise Weber coined the term “wrong eye, wrong intraocular lens, wrong patient” in 2008 as an aide memoir of major factors believed to underlie refractive surprise – defined as a significant unintended difference between dioptric refraction...

Increasing access to eye care through community outreach clinics in Uganda

There has been a VISION 2020 LINK between Mulago Hospital and Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda and the Royal Free Hospital, London, since 2010. There have been regular training visits between teams from the eye departments at Mulago and the...

Preventing blindness from diabetes: planning a programme of service development and research across Malawi

In sub-Saharan Africa 19.4 million people have diabetes; this is projected to rise to 28.6 million by 2030 [1]. Sight loss from diabetes devastates the lives of working people, affecting the financial stability of the families and communities who depend...