You’re Invited! SightLife to Convene Experts in Global Eye Health and Primary Health Care
On November 2, SightLife will convene experts from PATH, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Vardham Majavir Medical College for an engaging and productive conversation on the opportunities and challenges at the intersection of global eye health and primary health care.
Research data clearly demonstrate that investments in primary health care improve health outcomes. Bright spots include a range of integrated country-level policies and programs that helped reduce maternal and child mortality pre-pandemic. Yet many challenges remain, including the habitual fragmentation of primary health care financing and delivery by specific conditions or diseases rather than a framework of comprehensive care across the patient care continuum.
At SightLife, we know this fragmentation all too well because eye health care is rarely included in primary health care in low- and middle-income countries globally. Without access to eye care, especially corneal care, many people needlessly lose their vision – even though vision is essential for a range of everyday activities that are critical to global progress and our collective achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, from reducing poverty and hunger to expanding opportunities for improved health, education, gender equality, and decent work.
During the webinar, SightLife Chief Global Officer, Josie Noah, will ground our conversation in the World Health Assembly’s May 2021 adoption of two new ambitious eye health targets, which underscore the world’s unmet eye health needs as a primary health care priority. While change is on the horizon for eye care, we know that greater progress can only be made together.
Registration now closed. Watch the webinar below.
Meet the Experts
Sangeeta Abrol, MD, MPH
Professor (Dr.) Sangeeta Abrol is a Professor and Consultant at Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi and is the head of Glaucoma Services. She has worked hard through the length and breadth of country in spreading glaucoma awareness, early diagnosis and treatment in the States of Uttaranchal, Assam, Odisha, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Union Territory of Andaman Nicobar Islands (including Ongi and Jalwa tribes) and remote islands of India. She has worked for trachoma elimination in the endemic pockets of Nicobar Islands.
Dr. Abrol, an ophthalmologist with 28 years of experience, has had the privilege of doing her Master’s in the Public Health for Eye Care from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), London, United Kingdom.
She is working in Assistive Tools for Blindness and Deafness as an expert in India. She did the supervision of Low Vision project at AIIMS, Delhi. Dr. Abrol is amongst the founder expert in her country for Ayushmann Bharat which has the principle of equity and “Access to All” for health care. Previously, Dr. Abrol served as Deputy Director General (Ophthalmology) – National Programme for Control of Blindness & Visual Impairment in Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India.
Dr. Abrol has been honored and bestowed upon the Commonwealth Glaucoma Fellowship from Princess Alexandria Eye Hospital, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, which is a coveted fellowship in the world. She has presented academically at National and International conferences since 1993 and has innumerable publications and chapters to her credit.
She has been felicitated by WOS as a leading woman and inspiring “Women in Ophthalmology” is her passion. ‘PREVENTION OF BLINDNESS’ is her slogan for the Nation.
Matthew Burton, MD, PhD
Professor Matthew Burton is the Director of the International Centre for Eye Health (ICEH) at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). He holds a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship and leads a large international research group of clinicians and scientists, working to improve eye health in low and middle-income countries.
He is the co-chair of Lancet Global Health Commission on Global Eye Health. Through new and existing research, this Commission harnesses lessons learned from over two decades, presents the growing evidence for the life-transforming impact of eye care, and provides a thorough understanding of rapid developments in the field. This report was created through a broad consultation involving experts within and outside the eye care sector to help inform governments and other stakeholders about the path forwards for eye health beyond 2020, to further the Sustainable Development Goals (including universal health coverage), and work towards a world without avoidable vision loss and where people with existing vision impairment are included and cared for.
Matthew was the Director of the Commonwealth Eye Health Consortium, funded by the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust. The Consortium supported public health and research capacity development, sub-specialist ophthalmology training, health systems strengthening and technology development for eye health professionals.
He is an Honorary Consultant Ophthalmologist in Cornea & External Eye Disease at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, where he specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of microbial keratitis.
Kimberly (Kim) Green, PhD*
Kimberly Green, PhD, leads PATH’s Primary Health Care program, which includes teams focusing on Early Childhood Development; Health Systems, Innovation, and Delivery; HIV and Tuberculosis; Maternal, Newborn, Child Health and Nutrition; Noncommunicable Diseases; and Sexual and Reproductive Health. Prior to assuming this role, Dr. Green led PATH’s global HIV and TB portfolio, including the USAID/PATH Healthy Markets project which leverages innovation and partnerships to increase key population access to essential health services.
Dr. Green has nearly thirty years’ experience in public health management, policy development and research. She deeply believes in the power of primary health care to improve health access and equity and is specifically interested in health service delivery innovations; the role of lay providers in delivering health care; self-care and digital health; private-public sector partnerships; and social and behavior change communications.
Before joining PATH, Dr. Green directed and supported several global and regional primary health care projects focused on HIV, TB, hypertension, SRH, malaria and MNCHN in Africa and Asia, partnering with ministries of health, communities and private sector to incubate and scale-up evidence-based approaches. She has worked with FHI 360, CARE Cambodia, Plan International, Global Health Council, and was a health fellow with PACT Cambodia.
Jean Kagubare, MD, PhD, MPH
Dr. Jean Kagubare oversees a grant portfolio that focuses on research, analysis, and technical assistance to improve primary health care through health systems design and financing.
Jean has more than 30 years of experience in the areas of clinical and public health, particularly in the planning and management of public health programs in developing countries. Before joining the foundation, he was the global technical lead for health care financing at Management Sciences for Health, where he provided technical expertise for the design and implementation of results-based financing programs and community health insurance schemes.
In Rwanda, Jean held senior management positions and served as the director of the national HIV/AIDS program; was coordinator of the World Bank Health and Population Project; served as director general of the King Faisal National Referral Hospital; was director of the Health Planning Directorate; and served as chair of the Management and Economics Department at the School of Public Health. He also worked as a medical officer in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Belgium, South Africa, and Rwanda.
Jean earned his medical degree from the University of Kinshasa, an M.P.H. from the University of Brussels, and a Ph.D. in health systems from Johns Hopkins University.
Josie Noah, MPA, MPL
Josie Noah serves as Chief Global Officer at SightLife, overseeing program strategy and implementation in Asia and Africa. In this role, Josie also leads a global team driving philanthropy and partnerships to scale SightLife’s work to eliminate corneal blindness and the inequities that perpetuate it worldwide. Across Josie’s long tenure at SightLife, she has also held various leadership roles in global policy, advocacy, clinical training, eye bank strengthening, and blindness prevention, which Josie designed and launched in 2016.
Before SightLife, Josie served as the Director of Partnerships and Strategic Alliances for Global Impact, helping international development and global health non-profits advance their missions in partnership with the private and philanthropic sectors. Prior to that, she served as a Commitments Manager at the Clinton Global Initiative, where she developed over 60 new partnerships and projects in the areas of agriculture, climate change, water, and women and girls while managing the International Environment and Energy Commitments portfolio. Josie has also worked in urban planning, corporate philanthropy, nonprofit capacity building, and B2B/B2C marketing.
In her career, Josie has worked extensively in India, Nepal, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Jamaica. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Peace & Justice Studies from Wellesley College and Masters’ Degrees in Public Administration and Urban Planning from the University of Southern California.
Muyiwa Tegbe, MBChB, MPH*
Dr. Muyiwa Tegbe is health policy and health financing expert with significant experience working the United States, sub-Saharan Africa, and southeast Asia. He is currently PATH’s Deputy Director for Primary Health Care serving as a technical lead for ideation, development, and implementation of primary health care programs and interventions by PATH.
A medical doctor by training with a strong interest in developing financially sustainable health systems that will deliver improvements in population health outcomes and system value. Prior to joining PATH, provides senior advisory support and thought partnership to country decision-makers to design and implement innovative demand and supply-side financing interventions that increase financial risk protection for populations, increase financing for country health systems and optimize health outcomes.
In prior roles, Muyiwa has worked as a consultant to life-sciences and managed care organizations leading evidence generation activities to support better understanding of unmet needs, quality of care access and broad policy impact analyses. He also led the assessments for establishment of provider reimbursement models, conducted business feasibility assessment, and profitability analysis for investor groups, led a large donor funded health financing technical assistance program in Nigeria, amongst others.
*Due to unforeseen circumstances, Dr. Green was unable to join the webinar, so her colleague Dr. Tegbe presented on behalf of PATH.