{"id":11344,"date":"2020-01-31T13:06:19","date_gmt":"2020-01-31T12:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gewebenetzwerk.de\/?p=11344"},"modified":"2020-01-31T13:06:19","modified_gmt":"2020-01-31T12:06:19","slug":"recap-european-eye-bank-association-meeting-2020-hannover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gewebenetzwerk.de\/en\/recap-european-eye-bank-association-meeting-2020-hannover\/","title":{"rendered":"Recap: 32. European Eye Bank Association Meeting in Hannover"},"content":{"rendered":"

Workshops, science and WHO initiative ensure record attendance at EEBA<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/section>
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More than 300 guests from all over the world came together at the XXXII Annual Meeting of the European Eye Bank Association (EEBA) in Hannover.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/p><\/div>

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How can eye banks and tissue donation organisations contribute to preventing avoidable blindness?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This question was addressed by tissue bank employees, doctors and scientists from over 30 countries at this year’s annual conference of the EEBA<\/a>, which took place from 16 to 18 January 2020 in Herrenhausen Palace in Hannover.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n

The focus topic of the event was based on the worldwide initiative VISION 2020<\/em>, which had already been launched in 1999 by WHO (World Health Organisation) and IAPB<\/a> (International Association for the Prevention of Blindness) to prevent avoidable blindness. This year, the German Society for Tissue Transplantation (DGFG) hosted the conference bringing together experts from the field of corneal medicine in different European cities every year. The choice of venue was not coincidental: The DGFG has had its headquarters in the capital of Lower Saxony since its foundation in 2007.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n


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The cornea is about half a millimeter thick and is our window to the world: It lets light into the eye and thus enables good vision. About 7,000 corneal transplants per year in Germany are the last chance for patients with irreversibly clouded corneas due to illness or injury to see clearly again. Such a transplant comes from the tissue donation of a deceased person, which the DGFG carries out from over 30 locations and at more than 100 donor hospitals nationwide<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n

About European Eye Bank Association (EEBA)<\/a><\/h2>\n

The EEBA was founded in 1989 with the aim of providing corneal banks with an information platform. Today, the association is the leading association in Europe with more than 80 corneal banks and clinical centres from more than 20 European countries and several countries outside Europe. Its mission is to contribute to ensuring that tissues and cells of optimal quality and safety for transplantation and the treatment of eye diseases are provided according to the highest medical and scientific standards and that they are available in an ethical and humanitarian manner to as many patients in need as possible, in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration and applicable national and international laws and regulations. (Annual Directory, 28th<\/sup> Edition)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>
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16 January: Kick-off with extensive workshop and training programme<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/section>\n

The event started with an extensive workshop and training programme.<\/p>\n

In the evening, the conference was officially opened at the so-called Welcome Reception<\/strong>. Martin B\u00f6rgel (managing director of the DGFG) and medical ethicist Professor Eckhard Nagel<\/a> (Institute for Medical Management and Health Sciences of the University of Bayreuth) welcomed the guests. Professor Nagel also picked up on the latest decision in the German Bundestag<\/a> and underlined the importance of this conference in order to exchange information about initiatives in the supply of corneal transplants beyond Europe.<\/p>\n

A highlight on the programme of this first evening was the exhibition of the 18 submitted artworks for the Photo & Art Contest<\/strong><\/a>: For the first time, EEBA together with the DGFG organised a contest, which offered guests an insight into the world of corneal donation, preparation and transplantation and was intended to raise public awareness of the topic of “seeing” beyond the event. Both laymen and experts from tissue banks and member organisations of the EEBA creatively addressed this topic. Oil paintings, video slideshows, mobile, microscope images, photomontages and portraits \u2013 the artists’ perspectives are as varied as their submissions to the competition.<\/p>\n

An international jury of six judges selected the winner of the main prize from the 18 entries. Members of the jury were: Marion Charlotte Renneberg (Medical Association of Lower Saxony), Rebecca Zimmering (Federal Center for Health Education\/BZgA), Renate Kastrowsky-Kraft (Lions Governor District 111 Lower Saxony-Hannover), Simone Henzler (German Blind Relief Organisation), Aleksandra Jones (The Ophthalmologist) and Dr. Simone Hennerbichler (Austrian Red Cross)<\/p>\n

“To be a part of Lions’ international commitment to eye health is why I’m here. I would like to inform myself about corneal donation and eye banks, which Lions also support in Germany,” says Renate Kastrowsky-Kraft, District 111 Governor of Lower Saxony\/Hanover, describing her motivation to participate in the EEBA 2020 in Hannover. The district governor actively supported the conference as one of six jurors of the Photo & Art Contest.<\/p>\n

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“I find this contest very interesting. The art provides access to the topic and a discussion platform with very different people \u2013 not only experts”.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div><\/section>\n