World Conference on Optometric Education in Italy
Milan is opening its doors to the international scientific optometry education. From the 3rd to the 5th of May, at Milanofiori Congress Centre in Assago, Federottica, in partnership with Mido and the European Council of Optometry and Optics (Ecoo), will host the Fifth Session of the World Conference on Optometric Education (Wcoe5).
It is the most important 4-year event in the field of optometry uniting over 400 world leaders from 43 countries. The presence of delegations from China, India, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and South Africa is particularly meaningful. In this way organizers are trying to respond to the changes and opportunities that globalization is offering also to optometric education in a time in which the technologies and developments of optometry are changing remarkably. 'Educators must respond to the opportunities and demands posed by unmet vision care needs in an era of globalization', says Wco President Dan Sheni. 'The Wcoe5provides a forum for deliberation, debate and creative thinking'.
Italy is a country with a great potential for the development and qualification of the profession and it was recognized as such and chosen by the World Council of Optometry for the oncoming Fifth Session of the Wcoe. Consistently, also the title and the subject of Wcoe5, 'Expanding Educational Resources: The Challenge of Vision 2020', provide a particularly important historical opportunity to transform optometric education in the world, especially in those countries and communities where the management of optometric services is latent. In fact, the Wcoe5 aims at fighting avoidable blindness in the world through the international campaign Vision 2020- The right to sight, developing human resources, enhancing education and the availability of technologies, infrastructures and funds in the whole world.
The World Council of Optometry assembled a world-class panel of experts, including: Serge Resnikoff, Director, Prevention of Blindness and Deafness, World Health Organization; Hannah Faal, Eye Care Programme Consultant for West Africa, Sight Savers International; Ramachandra Pararajasegaram, Past President, International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness; Paul Berman, optometrist, Senior Global Clinical Advisor and Founder, the Special Olympics Lions Club International Opening Eyes.
Along with other internationally recognized speakers, including the members of the Association of European Schools of Optometry (Aeusco) as well as the representatives of Central and Eastern Europe, who will be present for the first time, the experts will address key concerns facing optometric education in preventive and protective function, ranging from teaching and learning strategies to educating eye care practitioners in view of 'Vision 2020: The Right to Sight', from industry's role and impact in optometric education to building faculty and curricula in developing programs and competency-based strategies for assessment.
The representatives from academia, government, industry, non-governmental organizations and regulatory agencies taking part in the three-day scientific conference in Milan, including the World Health Organization and the Unesco, will discuss their experiences within the context of public health.
Wcoe5 Steering Committee Chairman George Woo says, 'Vision 2020: The Right to Sight challenges optometry to train new personnel to achieve ambitious goals in an effort to eliminate avoidable blindness: improving human resources, strengthening the eye care infrastructures; and optimizing the use of technology'.
The President of the Albo degli Optometristi, Alberto Benzoni, underlines that 'the Wcoe5 is a great opportunity for the future of the profession, i.e. for students. For this reason, the Albo degli Optometristi, thanks to the support of the Vision Council of America, was able to gain the participation of twenty students from Optometry Universities all over Europe'.
