Situation of Blindness in India

India is now home to the world's largest number of blind people. Of the 37 million people across the globe who are blind, over 15 million are from India. 75% of these are cases of avoidable blindness. This is because of the acute shortage of optometrists and donated eyes for the treatment of corneal blindness. While India needs 40,000 optometrists, it has only 8,000. While India needs 250,000 donated eyes every year, the country's 109 eye banks manage to collect a maximum of just 25,000 eyes, 30% of which can't be used. Epidemiology The blind population in India is estimated to rise to 15 million by the year 2020. Cataract is the leading cause of blindness in India while refraction error and glaucoma are the second and third leading causes of blindness respectively in India. In India since trachoma is limited, onchocerciasis is non-existent; glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and corneal diseases form priorities. CAUSE FOR BLINDNESS PERCENTAGE OF CONTRIBUTION Cataract 62.6% Refraction Error 19.7% Glaucoma 5.8% Corneal pathologies 0.9% Surgical complication 1.2% Posterior Segment Disorder 4.8% Other Causes 5.0% Prevention and Control National Program for Control of Blindness was launched in the year 1976 as a 100% Centrally Sponsored scheme with the goal to reduce the prevalence of blindness from 1.4% to 0.3%. As per Survey in 2001-02, prevalence of blindness is estimated to be 1.1%. Rapid Survey on Avoidable Blindness conducted under NPCB during 2006-07 showed reduction in the prevalence of blindness from 1.1% (2001-02) to 1% (2006-07). The main focus of the program is • To reduce the backlog of blindness through identification and treatment of blind at primary, secondary and tertiary levels based on assessment of the overall burden of visual impairment in the country. • Develop and strengthen the strategy of NPCB for “Eye Health” and prevention of visual impairment through provision of comprehensive eye care services and quality service delivery. • • Strengthening the existing and developing additional human resources and infrastructure facilities for providing high quality comprehensive Eye Care in all Districts of the country. • to enhance community awareness on eye care and lay stress on preventive measures; • Increase and expand research for prevention of blindness and visual impairment. • to secure participation of Voluntary Organizations/Private Practitioners in eye Care Blindness is defined under following headings: Simple Definition: • Inability of a person to count fingers from a distance of 6 meters or 20 feet Technical Definition: • Vision 6/60 or less with the best possible spectacle correction • Diminution of field vision to 20 or less in better eye

Social Networking with LinkedIn

If you want to be business oriented, then the social networking website that you are looking for is LinkedIn. Many people use this site for connecting with their business associates and clients. You can use this social media site for personal as well as organizational development. You can keep up with new trends in your field of business. What is LinkedIn all about? It is a social networking site that is focused purely on business orientation. The main objective of the site is to allow people to network on a professional level. You can use the site for free if you want basic services of registering as a member and linking with other members that you identify. The site will allow you to find business associates and colleagues of yours. Once you link with them, then they can join your network. Once a person gets connected with you, you can then have an access to that person’s list of network connections. This becomes your extended network. A request can be made of introduction to people who are in the extended network through the mutual contact person. You can take LinkedIn training to build up your LinkedIn profile and then you will have the ability to join groups and even look for jobs in the employment section where members generally advertise for open positions. You can start your profile building by creating a profile page. This becomes your personal page. All the members who are registered on this social media site can see your profile page unless you specifically set it as a private page. This page can give details about your education and previous work experience. You can also talk about your past and current work projects. The members can then forward your profile page to their network. The status update on your profile could be used to ask questions or make comments and address them to people in your social network. Using it as a social media strategy, you can give your company or organization more visibility in connection with its brand and products or services. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter have been used as part of a social media strategy to extend career network beyond the geographical location you are confined in. By taking the elementary LinkedIn training, you can do profile building on a professional and not casual basis. You can update your profile regularly on this social network medium. This network could be built systematically by importing contacts from your email addresses. You can also use your LinkedIn profile to join groups that are relevant to your career profile. This could include several professional groups and alumni organizations. While doing social networking with LinkedIn, you have to remember that you do not overuse the network and suffocate your contacts with constant spamming of profile updates and requests. If you use it well, this network could become a goldmine for you and your business. Your success depends on the LinkedIn profile that you create and how it shows on search results. If it does not reflect on the search results, then you are probably losing out on clients and good business opportunities.

Job security has become an illusion today

Job security has become an elusive concept today. You could be thrown off your job all of a sudden in these difficult times. Not many people think about quitting a job today unless they have already got another. But there are many cases when leaving a job can be involuntary and can come all of a sudden when you are least prepared mentally and professionally for being on the job search. You can be laid off for a simple reason that your employer suddenly decided to cut costs. No company is in the best of shapes today. It is not easy to guess as to who will get the axe next at your job place. There are ways to go about assessing such a situation. It is important for you to know that you are not alone in this insecurity syndrome. Even if you are sacked, it does not mean for your next employer that it is because of your inability or performance at work. In the past few years, many top performers have been sacked for no reason. The only logic is that they were too expensive to keep for a company or that they had become redundant for their employer with business not getting the expected profits.