Why Gender & Eye Health on this World Sight Day?

By : Shanthakumari Gopal (sgopal@sightsavers.org)

Programme Officer - NEAO


My 15 years of intensive work experience in HIV and AIDS, gender, dalits and adhivasis rights, made myself so immune to look at any issues with that perspective. The third day of my work in eye care field was a visit to one of the hospital partner. Going through various records and documents, one thing strike me was the data where slightly larger number of women accessing eye care services in the free and subsidy sections. Hence forth my search began to find out the facts, on the process…. brought out the discussion with many Ophthalmologists but many of them responded that women and men are equally affected by eye diseases. It was hard to accept hence tried reading various journals then understood that the eye care issues are highly prevalent among women due to various factors.


Vision 2020 theme for the year 2009 is “Gender and Eye Health”. It is a well thought of theme at this juncture where a great level of disparity occurs in terms of accessing eye care services by men and women. Salute to the person/team that thought of this theme.


Two out of every three people in the world who are blind are women, 90% of blindness occurs in the developing world. Women and girls who are blind are doubly disadvantaged by their gender and their disability status. Surveys of Asian and African countries where cataract is the biggest cause of blindness have shown that women can account for as high a proportion as 74% of all people living with cataract.


What is gender?

To understand the theme Gender and Eye Health, first we should know what Gender is. Gender at a descriptive level refers to social differences between men and women. Gender at an analytical level refers to power relations between men and women. In other words, Gender describe those characteristics of men and women which are socially determined in contrast to those which are biologically determined. The fact is that only sex – the biological difference can differentiate men and women.


People are born male and female but learn to be girls and boys and grow into women and men. The socially constructed roles and responsibilities of men and women cleverly marginalize woman as a second class citizen and strategically denying their fundamental rights. Through reinforcing the set roles and responsibilities from the child birth women and girl children are confined within a limited circle, which keeps them away from getting exposed to the out side world resulting women with low self esteem and empowerment.


However the scenario is, women do 67 per cent of the world’s work, yet their earnings for it amount to only 10 % of the world’s income - according to UN statistics. Also, women are the central to success of poverty alleviation efforts but our policy makers fail to recognise the strategic potential of women as critical actors in the process of moving their families out of poverty.


In reality, due to the second class status women are exploited and denied basic rights which leads more than 70% of women in Indian society suffer from Anaemia and various other diseases including eye diseases and blindness.


Factors for high prevalence among women:

Although a limited explanation available with regard to gender disparities in blindness, the following are considered as some of the factors resulting high prevalence among women.

• Life expectancy of women is higher than men.


• Women much less likely access eye care information, services compare with that of men due to social, cultural and economic factors.


• Women of all ages are more frequently exposed to causative factors such as infectious disease and malnutrition.

Need of the hour:

We are well aware, through our eye care services we ultimately aim the society to have a better health thus live away from poverty and hunger. To alleviate poverty and hunger women should be in the centre of all process including our eye care services. So the need of the hour is …….

• Eye care professionals and policy makers should recognize that eye care issues and blindness is highly prevalent among women.


• The eye care organization should bring gender as one of its mandate to ensure equal access by both the sex. More women should be on board involving planning, monitoring and evaluation of the programmes and projects.


• To achieve equal coverage, women should account for around 65-70% of all cataract surgical cases. Blindness and severe visual impairment from cataract could be reduced by around 12.5% in low and middle income countries if women were to receive cataract surgery at the same rate as men
  

Our World Sight Day 09 plans

MEC WORLD SIGHT DAY 2009

Background:
World Sight Day is an annual day of awareness held on the second Thursday of October every year, to focus global attention on blindness and vision impairment. This year, it focuses on gender and eye health–equal access to care and this day shall be celebrated across the globe on the 8th of October 2009. The day shall see lots of events, rallies, cultural programmes, launch of schemes and activities at various parts of the world and also in a big way in India.

As part of the mega Mumbai Eye Care Campaign it is planned to have a series of events here in the heart of Mumbai which shall not only serve as providing the much needed information to the larger population of Mumbai but shall also serve as the base for the formal launch of the mega 5 year campaign.

With events ranging from awareness camps at important railway stations across the city limits, street plays, targeted group screening programme, general screening camps to the mega “eye – mela” on the occasion of WSD 09 at Dharavi sensitisation and information sharing to a large population base shall be achieved easily. While the event shall kick off from the 5th of October 09 it shall end on the day of World Sight Day (8th of October 09) with a big mela at Dharavi.
The event shall be in partnership with all our partners here in Mumbai and there shall be lot of involvement of local NGOs and CBOs, press and electronic media, local municipal bodies and other partners.

Objectives:
To raise awareness on eye care in the Mumbai city and launch of the Mumbai Eye Care Campaign
To educate the slum communities and marginalized groups regarding need for eye care.
Sensitize the community through media on eye health in general
Initiate screening programmes in the selected part of the city to provide services and raise awareness and reach out to a largely untapped but deserving community.

Expected Outcomes
The initiative is expected to raise awareness on blindness and vision impairment in the community. It shall also work to develop a better understanding of the issue of disability among the community. The official launch of the campaign shall also be done on the sidelines of the event so that people are able to better identify with the campaign and come forward to only avail of services but also contribute to the cause. With the event expected to grab lot of media attention it is felt that the programme shall not highlight the need for such a campaign and also increase the visibility of Sightsavers and other partners in the state and highlight on the good work that is been done for the needy and marginalized slum population of the city.



Partnership:
The initiative will be a joint endeavor of Sightsavers International and host of other partners – Lotus College of Optometry, K B H B Hospital, Xavier’s Resource Centre for the Visually Challenged, National Association for the Blind (India), Blind Person’s Association, Standard Chartered and many other grass root NGOs / CBOs as well as the local municipal bodies, Indian Railways and people’ representatives. There shall be active support from the media houses and talk is on with many of the government line departments for them to also partake and contribute in the events. The whole event shall be coordinated by the South India Area Team with support from our colleagues in the Regional Office and all our partners.

Details:
A total of 3 events are been planned in the week and building up to the mega event of World Sight Day on the 8th of October 2009.

Event 1 – Awareness drive at Railway stations:
In order to reach out to the larger population of the city it is planned to have awareness programmes at the railway stations. For the same discussion have already taken place with the railway authorities and permission for seven (7) stations have already been taken. The stations have been chosen not only in terms of spatial distribution of the Vision centres but also keeping in mind the maximum impact that can be had through the event. The chosen stations are CST, Churchgate, Kurla, Dadar, Andheri, Chembur, Borivali – a mix of Western and Central Railway stations. The programme shall be conducted through having stalls on the foot over bridges (FOBs).

The stalls shall be operational in between 8 AM in the morning to 8 PM in the evening and it shall be manned by 3 people / volunteers at all times. Basic information on eye care and MEC shall be disseminated through the stalls so that maximum people can be reached out to.

The stalls are been designed by Indus D’Sign and a total of 7 stalls shall be required. The stalls shall also have IEC materials, banners (at least 5 per station), MEC brochure as well as FAQ’s list with contact details of all Vision centres.

The people / volunteers shall be involved in talking to the people, distributing IEC materials (leaflets, pamphlets, etc) and when necessary counselling people. All stalls shall also have a ready made press kit so that in case of any media person coming into the stalls, uniform information is disseminated to them.

It is envisaged that we could get the printing of FAQs and MEC brochure done through some of the corporate contacts of our partners.

Event 2 – Media drive:
The media drive shall be targeting the population of Mumbai through use of innovative media events and programmes. The drive in media is divided into 3 parts – newspapers / magazines, radio and television (electronic media if possible shall also be explored).

1. Media house EURO RCSG has agreed to arrange for a press meet in which the press will be briefed about MEC campaign, Sightsavers International and World Sight Day 09 in particular. The media house shall be responsible for arranging of the journalists as well as entire conduct of the programme. Expected outcome would be coverage in newspapers / magazines so that information dissemination can take place.

2. Various Fm channels are been explored and discussion is in active stage with both Radio City (private Fm channel) and All India Radio (government owned Am station with a larger reach). This medium shall be used for spreading information on eye care in general, the MEC campaign, key messages for the public – it would also preferably feature talks from end of Sightsavers on the need and importance of eye care in general. The activities shall continue for 6 – 7 days depending on the messages to b e given to the public.

It is envisaged that we could get the media campaign of radio be done through some of the corporate contacts of our partners.

3. Discussion is also been held with the electronic media to conduct awareness and sensitisation programme for the people through use of television and other electronic media. No cost of the same is yet to be forecasted.

4. Newspaper inserts – It is planned that a small leaf printed paper insert shall be used to spread the information of MEC through leading newspapers. This one side printed paper shall be inserted within newspapers so that information about MEC is carried to the homes of people. This cheap and easy way of newspaper inserts shall be very useful keeping in mind the cost involved and the substantial reach that can be attained through this.

Event 3 – Mega launch of MEC campaign:
The MEC campaign is targeted for the poor and needy / marginalised sections of the society. It is therefore prudent to plan for a mega event at some of the project location to real reach out to those who are deprived of RE services. For the same a big event to culminate the week long activities is planned in the form of an eye care mela at Dharavi.

The location of the event shall be at one of the school grounds in Dharavi. Permission for the same is been sought from the Bombay Municipal Corporation and written permission for the same shall be received within 18th September 09. Government line departments have also expressed their interest to partner with us for the mega event.
The day long event at Sant Kakaiya school grounds shall be in the form of an “eye fair” (Drishti-Mela). Stalls shall be set up in the school grounds and these informative and entertainment based stalls shall be all manned by volunteers, staff and supporters of our MEC partners. A total of 15 stalls have been envisaged as of now and the stalls shall cover a wide gamut of information – partner details, activities that they are into, rehabilitative skills of the VI, game stalls (on the line of Antarchakshu), optical illusionary stall, etc.

The eye fair which shall be operational from 11 AM to 6 PM shall see a host of activities – day long screening programme at some stalls, information sharing, release of pilot MEC report, press visits, performance by bhangra troupe (subject to availability and costing), performance by the street play group, release of balloons and human chain.

Volunteers from NSS, corporation and local NGOs are been approached for effective management of the programme. The health workers shall also be actively part of the event.
Schools and colleges in the area shall be contacted for sending over their students to get information on eye care. Door to door counselling and motivation by the health workers shall be done so that more people can participate in the event. Local NGO information boards shall be used along with local cable channel networks to spread the information of the day. Information dissemination through PA system shall also be done.

The expected outcome would be a successful launch of MEC with enough media coverage that shall help in all future endeavours.

BRIEF BRUSH WITH BOLLYWOOD

By Bhavana Pande (bpande@sightsavers.org)

A Mumbai Eye Care Campaign representative and a bollywood buff by heart had a brief brush with bollywood past these couple of months. We all know of the impact of these known glamorous faces on the people where it’s beyond mere entertainment that people want to know more, live like their stars and desire to once wave and touch them! And probably this craze for reel heroes helps when an Amitabh Bachchan announces ‘Zindagi ke do boond’ to create a desired effect!

We hear stories of how these celebrities yearn for promoting their work and boost their image by adapting a benevolent style but on the other hand also have those unspoken incidents where they have done their bit for the society without making much hullabaloo. I presume I am opportune to meet the later ones more often.

Though we tried to touch many celeb hearts past these few months we managed to sit table across discussing the campaign with Rahul Bose in his own organization office called ‘Foundation’ which works against Sexual Abuse of Children and also supports the education of few tsunami affected kids. Here we met a Rahul who was already suffocated with the many causes he is supporting and many bodies he is representing already.”

After a popular demand at our office we contacted Cine star Naseeruddin Shah and managed to get his appointment at his shooting set in Goregaon, Mumbai. Shweta, Nitin and myself were inside a half constructed five star hotel wherein the owner seems to prove the world in his own way that to what extent a place can throttle you. The interiors were stinking rich and made you feel so dispirited. When we reached the hotel room where the camera was rolling we saw a Naseer who is about to collapse after 10 retakes only for “kaun? Woh!” by Mr. Dev Anand!

After the shot when Naseerji walked towards is room probably with the intention to scream aloud the aggravation we followed him and reminded him of our appointment.

To our surprise we were politely invited inside the room offered tea and then we got to interact with a true larger than life persona who was very patient, sensitive and mature to understand what we communicated.”Mujhe woh ribbon kaatne mat bulaana.Let me do something substantial” is what he wanted to say. We also presented him a Sightsavers Souvenir to which he smiled gently and said thank you!

Leaving I lingered how thankful he might be to get our ears to ventilate his feelings after working three long days in that hotel with Dev Anand for a movie of which Naseerji had no idea about!