Sunday 27 June 2010

World “Fight against blindness” Cup






Determining the World champions in fighting blindness can be very challenging, but indeed even in the field of blindness , people like Drogba do exists : I am representing Malawi and hope we can get through teams like Zambia ,Zimbabwe ,Mozambique ,and Rwanda quickly so that we start so that we start on focusing on difficulty ones like Ghana, Ivory coast , Nigeria and the Germans . Having done some eye work in the countries I have mentioned and seen how strong they are, I am confident Malawi has a bigger chance of winning .
Everyone including myself has been focusing so much on the world cup that reported for work for the month of June to July has been difficulty .For most , that means cancellation of field work ,and also cancellations of eye theatres to see the major games. Not fair for the poor patients
Having lost a fortune through gambling and betting on the England team; I have no choice but to get back to my roots : fighting against blindness and hoping to get in the semi finals of the “world fight against blindness” semi finals .A wise man warned me to stick to what I am familiar with so that everyone can appreciate. I am proud to report that out of blogs I have written; this one on Malawian Eye Dr becomes health minister has attracted most comments for a number of reasons ;well he has been one the few eye doctors in Sub-Saharan Africa who has left a name of the world map of blindness; and that for retirement he is currently the minister of Health for Malawi . I thank you for your encouraging comments ; and I shall continue writing about blindness in Malawi and other areas.
For politics ,,as Prof Chirambo used to say “Keep out of politcs:it is a dirtly game" and adding on the word “ listen to what I say and not what I do” , I am not amazed that he betrayed himself and become a politican and am keeping my fingers crossed .I have revisited the library to find more photos of him receiving the world cup on behalf many blind persons he has been fighting for .
Currently there are more than 10,000 Malawians who are blind from Cataract and could see again if a simple cataract operation would be performed on them .Most of these I believe will be supporting me
Which side are you on?
What do you want to say?
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Thursday 10 June 2010

Malawian Post Graduate student eye doctor shines in Berlin, Germany: June2010



Malawian Post Graduate student eye doctor shines in Berlin, Germany: June2010
Dr Tamara Chirambo Nyaka , a student doctor specializing in ophthalmology at college of medicine in Blantyre ,Malawi has been awarded by Germany society of Ophthalmologists (DOG) Euro 5,000 in Berlin ,Germany for presenting the best student research topic in ophthalmology .
Dr Chirambo , a student of Dr Kalua ; is one of the most promising and will be one of the first ophthalmologist doctors to graduate from University of Malawi ,College of Medicine in 2010.
The world ophthalmological congress (WOC) in Berlin attracted over 1,200 speakers from all over the world and was attended by over 17,000 participants from 2nd -9th June 2010.The next International congress will be held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates in 2012 and then Tokyo, Japan in 2014.
In his remarks during a brief visit to the Malawian embassy in Berlin; Professor Isaac Lamba who is the ambassador for Malawi in Germany congratulated Dr Chirambo for putting Malawi on the map.
Dr Khumbo Kalua , an epidemiology and clinical research lecturer of Dr Chirambo established the Blantyre institute for community Ophthalmology (BICO) to advance Eye Research in Malawi and is proud to be associated with the success of one of his students .
Who said Malawians had no brains?
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Blantyre Institute for community Ophthalmology (BICO) update 2010



Remember 2 years ago when Blantyre Institute for Community Ophthalmology (BICO) was founded in with the mission of contributing to the prevention and control of blindness in Malawi and neighboring countries in the Southern part of Africa through conducting practical research, teaching, training, consultancy and advocacy in eye care delivery? Remember the reason for starting the institute? To accelerate eye research in southern part of Africa inline with needs of VISION2020 : the Right to Sight ; the global initiative to eliminate avoidable blindness.
The centre aims to coordinate research being carried out by eye care professionals in Malawi and transfer the best of its expertise and experience to an ever-increasing number of eye care institutes across Southern Africa The centre is strategically located within the University Of Malawi College of Medicine teaching eye hospital, the Lions Sight first eye hospital in Blantyre. The current activities of the institute contributing to eye care in Malawi and other developing countries in Southern Africa can be broadly classified under the following areas: • Capacity building of community eye care health workers • Training Programmes – focusing on community eye care delivery • Research capacity building through conducting practical local research (operational and health services research ) • Publications • Consultative support to hospitals with no expertise in community eye health • Advocacy and contribution to Eye Care Programmes at National and International level through the Government and International NGOs. • Fund raising for eye care service delivery • Coordination of the National Trachoma Research •
Blantyre Institute for Community Ophthalmology (BICO) contacts : Department of Ophthalmology ,Lions Sight First Eye hospital P.O.Box E180 Post dot net Blantyre Malawi .Email: kkalua @medcol.mw
BICO has already started making huge impact in regards to eye research in the region : in 2008 the trachoma survey was done in Malawi under leadership of BICO ; in 2009 BICO coordinated the trachoma survey in Rwanda; and continued with the childhood blindness survey in Blantyre ,Malawi .Later in 2009 BICO coordinated the Rapid Assessment of Avoidable blindness survey in Malawi .Recently BICO has helped solicit project funds for lions club of Limbe to support blind and visual impaired children in Phalombe, Malawi
There are several researches coming up under BICO in 2010.Indeed BICO is achieving its dream.
You can help BICO achieve more of its ambitions by just making a comment on where to get resources ?
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