[Discussion] WORLD BLINDNESS: SOCIAL ASPECTS AN D ITS PREVENTION: - CALL FOR PAPERS AND INVITATION FOR PARTICIPATION”

[Sule Tarakcioglu]

WORLD BLINDNESS: SOCIAL ASPECTS AND ITS PREVENTION: - CALL FOR PAPERS 
AND INVITATION FOR PARTICIPATION”
Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 tell us that an 
estimated 37 million people worldwide are blind, and that the number of 
people with visual impairment worldwide was more than 161 million. It is 
said that eighty per cent of blindness is avoidable (69% treatable and 
20% preventable). The burden of visual impairment is not distributed 
uniformly throughout the world: the least developed regions carry the 
largest share. People who live in the developing world are 5-10 times 
more likely to go blind than people who live in highly industrialized 
countries. Visual impairment is also unequally distributed across age 
groups, being largely confined to people over 50 years of age. 
Furthermore, females have a significantly higher risk of having visual 
impairment than males. Cataract, glaucoma, age-related macular 
degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and trachoma continue to be 
significant public health issues. Eyesight problems pose one of the most 
challenging areas for social science research. Can rising myopia in many 
parts of the world be attributed to life styles rather than genetic 
variations? What do we know about the lives of those without eye sight 
or with very poor vision? What are the experiences of the developed 
world and those of less developed countries? What are the outcomes of 
different intervention strategies implemented worldwide? Critical 
evaluations of programs like “Eyesight First”. Folk beliefs on eyesight 
and vision. Blindness as portrayed in literature, myths and the media. 
This session proposes to have a comprehensive discussion an evaluation 
of different approaches to and strategies for solving eyesight problems. 
Social consequences of the collapse of buildings and other man-made 
accidents will also be examined. Please find updated information as 
regards the meeting at the IFSSH website http://www.ifssh.net.
The International Forum for Social Sciences and Health (IFSSH) welcomes 
applications from scholars, administrators, researchers, interested 
parties, international agencies, national and international research 
institutions and students for participation in the 2005 World Congress 
“HEALTH CHALLENGES OF THE THIRD MILLENNIUM”. The 2005 World Congress 
aims to realize a universal platform for reflections and forward-looking 
discussions in all important areas that fall under the health social 
science agenda. The world congress will host workshop sessions under the 
following themes: Accidents and disabilities; Adolescent health; 
Bioethics; Bioterror and weapons of mass destruction; Child health, 
development and child rights; Health consequences of war; Communicating 
health knowledge and behavior; Controversies of diet and nutrition; 
Developing economies, migration and emerging health issues; Ecohealth: 
climate change, health consequences of environmental deterioration and 
environmental policies; Ethnobotany and healing; Giving birth: new 
meanings, new statistics; Health and disease in world myths, scripts and 
literature; Health clubs and the new aesthetics of health; Health 
equity; Health social science research methodology; Health sector reform 
and health insurance; Health, medicine and colonialism; Human rights, 
HIV/AIDS and the new epidemics; Infectious diseases; Issues in rural 
health and disease; Life styles; Living with pain; Local traditions of 
healing and shamans; New challenges: smoking, addictions and eating 
disorders; Politics of pharmacueticals; Redefining old age; Reproductive 
health; Social history of health and disease; Social science education 
for health sciences; Sociology of dental health; Suicides and cross 
cultural issues in mental health; The economics of well being; The 
future of hospitals and patient care; The psychology of violence; 
Violence as a public health issue; and Social aspects and prevention of 
world blindness. Please find updated information as regards the meeting 
at the IFSSH website http://www.ifssh.net. We invite you to join this 
interdisciplinary gathering of the experiences and perspectives of 
social scientists and health specialists for a crucial assessment of the 
human condition at the onset of the new millennium.
Prof. Dr. Akile Gürsoy
IFSSH Secretary General
Head, Department of Anthropology
Yeditepe University
Congress Correspondence:
2005 IFSSH Congress Center
Department of Anthropology
Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Yeditepe University
Kay?s,dag(?,34755 Istanbul TÜRKI.YE
Tel: (+ 90) 216-578 07 27)
Fax: (+ 90) 216-578 08 99)
E-mail: ifssh.2005@yeditepe.edu.tr
ifssh@ifssh.net
http://www.ifssh.net