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Not only are many of the causes of blindness treatable, they are linked to the world's biggest causes of premature death. Julie E. Buring MD, professor of ambulatory care and prevention at Harvard Medical School told the conference that age-related chronic diseases, such as heart disease and cancer, and age-related causes of blindness such as cataract and AMD, share a number of modifiable risk factors: smoking, diabetes, physical inactivity, obesity, hypertension, hormones, and nutrition. Dr. Buring called for innovative strategies to raise awareness of the importance and impact of these risk factors, such as education, screening and effective strategies to encourage modification of these risk factors.
Educating both patients (see sidebar) and his ophthalmologist colleagues is the role embraced by Paul Courtright PhD, a co-author on the epidemiological meta-analysis of blindness and gender. "Our study was only published two years ago and it takes times for the message to sink in. Some ophthalmologists are aware of the problem, some are not. We have set up collaborative work with colleagues in Egypt , India , Nepal and Tibet . They are starting to develop programmes to reach women. But lowering the rate of blindness among women requires increasing access to and acceptance of eye care services. This will take time to achieve," Dr. Courtright, of the Kilimanjaro Centre for Community Ophthalmology in Moshi , Tanzania , told EuroTimes. Ophthalmologists also have an important role in alerting patients to referral services for low vision support. "Usually an ophthalmologist will say that 'nothing further can be done' and at that time they mean that there is no further surgical or medical treatment that will bring back vision," said Professor Hugh Taylor, managing director of the Centre for Eye Research, Australia, and keynote speaker at the conference. "This is interpreted by the patient that there is nothing of any sort that can be done to help them, where in reality there is a huge amount that could be done to help them use their residual vision by appropriate referral to low vision services." The bottom line is that patients, and particularly women, need to be alerted to potential problems with eye health. They need to be told that many of the causes of premature death can also cause blindness, and when an eye disease or condition becomes untreatable, patients need information to make the most of use of the vision that remains. "One of the most important ways we can tackle this is by educating mothers to the problem. As the primary care-givers they can teach their children so that in time the problem will be eradicated." said Dr Gipson. Ilene K. Gipson DrPH Professor Hugh R Taylor AC MD
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SCIENTISTS, ophthalmologists and health policy experts debated what could be done to combat the high global prevalence of blindness in women at a conference in Boston sponsored by the newly formed Women's Eye Health Task Force. Attendees learned that longevity alone doe not account for the large disparity in blindness between the sexes. Women have higher rates of blindness and visual impairment in all age groups world wide, and blindness is more common among women in both developed and developing economies. The surprise statistic came to light in 2001 when a major meta-analysis of population-based prevalence surveys was published in Ophthalmic Epidemiology. Using data from than 70 epidemiological studies on blindness conducted over the past 20 years, the study found that the burden of blindness fell 64% on women, a statistic maintained across the world. 
While the disparity between sexes is maintained across economies, the reasons for the disparity vary. Longevity does play a role particularly in developed countries , but this is combined with problems of access to services and education faced by women. "In the developed world longevity is truly a factor - but many eye conditions are preventable, treatable or the onset of visual impairment can be delayed," said Ilene Gipson PhD, Senior Scientist at Schepens Eye Research Institute and chair of the Women's Eye Health Task Force (WEHTF). "In the developing countries, it's a different story. Lack of access to medical care is a major factor, as is infectious disease, such as trachoma. Prevention and treatment are not occurring and that's the rationale for the formation of the WEHTF. We would like to make this known globally if we can." 
Debra A. Schaumberg MD, an assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School , described her studies that indicate a strong relationship between the use of hormone replacement therapy and dry eye syndrome. She added that there are no major sex differences in cases of age-related macular disease, but that sex difference appeared in age-related cataract from 65 years on and that there is an increased risk of cortical cataract in women. Higher rates of low vision also exist among older women. Alerting the public and the eye health care professionals is a goal of the WEHTF. Dr. Gipson told EuroTimes that ophthalmologists and other eye health care professionals do not realise the extent of the problem.