Glaucoma awareness, screenings continue across Europe

European Union-Public screenings were scheduled to take place on World Glaucoma Day today at a variety of venues including private practices and hospitals in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland, in observance of World Glaucoma Day.

Milan, Italy: Demetrio Spinelli, MD, Vision+ Onlus president, said, “We held a large press conference and on March 12 we hosted a glaucoma screening open to everyone and distributed information about the disease in order to spread the word.”

Stockholm, Sweden: Enping Chen, MD, said: “With the Glaucoma Patient Association we are hosting a seminar at St. Erik Eye Hospital, Karolinska Institutet, in Stockholm.” This event will comprise a debate and question-and-answer session with a mixed panel of glaucoma experts and patients.

Klagenfurt, Austria: A public screening event was planned.

Lausanne, Switzerland: Emilie Ravinet, MD, provided free screenings during the month of March. She said, “I will allocate 1 hour of free screening during each of my working days in March 2009.”

Strasbourg, France: The European Parliament hosted a conference on living with glaucoma, hosted by patients with the disease.

Plovdiv, Bulgaria: Stanka Uzonova, MD, said, “I plan to establish a ‘glaucoma school’ with periodic meetings with patients about the disease. It is a great honor to me that I will be able to organize this initiative for the first time in Bulgaria.”

Copenhagen, Denmark: The University of Copenhagen distributed information via DVD throughout the country.