Vision for the future
By Azlan Othman
Cataract, which is the number one cause of blindness in Asean countries, is almost eradicated in Brunei Darussalam. This is the result of the continuous effort of His Majesty's Government through the Ministry of Health, which has made cataract surgery very accessible and affordable.
The Minister of Health, Pehin Dato Hj Suyoi, who was speaking during the launching of World Sight Day at RIPAS Hospital yesterday, said that the main cause of blindness in the Sultanate is diabetic retinopathy.
From diabetic screenings conducted by the Eye Department from 1997 to 2000, it is estimated that one in 37 Bruneians would be diabetic in 2006, the minister said.
Of that number, one in five diabetic patients will have some form of diabetic retinopathy and visual impairment, while one in 25 will be blinded from the condition, Pehin Hj Suyoi added.
Fortunately, diabetic retinopathy can be prevented.
On average, it takes nine years for a diabetic patient to develop diabetic retinopathy, and 15 years before a diabetic person is affected visually, the Minister of Health said, adding that these findings stress the importance of diabetic retinopathy screening.
Meanwhile, Pehin Hj Suyoi lauded the initiative by the Department of Ophthalmology in conducting twice-weekly diabetic screening programmes in all hospitals in Brunei.
"I encourage members of the public to utilise these services as they have shown to be successful in the management of the most important cause of blindness in Brunei," he said.
Earlier, the minister said Brunei like many other countries in the world commemorates the global effort to prevent avoidable blindness by 2020.World Sight Day is truly a global event, which is aimed at increasing the profile of Vision 2020: The Right to Sight.
Almost 90 per cent of all World Health Organisation (WHO) member countries have organised prevention of blindness activities in their respective countries, which highlight the global recognition of blindness as an important public health issue.
According to studies conducted by WHO in 2002, 161 million people globally are visually impaired: 37 million are blind and 124 million suffering from poor vision.
It is estimated that every five seconds, one person in the world goes blind. One child goes blind every minute and seven million people become blind each year.
But more importantly, 80 per cent of cases are avoidable, either resulting from preventable conditions (20 per cent) or being treated (60 per cent) so that the sight is restored.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the committee, Mr Nayan Joshi, who is also the Head of Ophthalmology Department, said high quality and up-to-date cataract surgeries are available to all in the Sultanate.
There are well-established nationwide screening programmes to address the problem of chronic non-communicable diseases i.e. glaucoma, diabetic eye disease and childhood blindness, he said.
"In the following years, there are plans to augment these screening programmes by launching compulsory 'Nation Screening Programmes' for diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma," Mr Joshi said, adding that there would also be programmes for schools.
"These will be further supported by Telemetric Remote Screening and Mobile Screening Units. Proposals have been made to reduce amblyopia and childhood blindness by the provision of subsidised corrective glasses to children," he said.
Despite all the negative comments and shortcomings of the Marathon organisation (which included me not having my pass and vest as a member of Gemilang Photographers) there must be a few stories of self achievement and triumph during the Marathon. I really admire this "Seeing is Believing" tag team and you can read more about them on their site and also at the end of Rano's write-up on Rano.com 
Dear Emma,
It was raining very heavily outside so we decided to take the photo in the living room.
The start of the 42km full marathon...
My niece at far left. Must have been easy for her. She finished 6th and won herself a medal and B$500. Congrats and well done. 
My bro-in-law. It's a piece of cake, no problem.
The shutterbugs...
Looking at some of the end product...something must be interesting?
The Brunei winners
I've just got up after catching up with a few lost sleeping hours. Slept after 12 last night and woke up at 3.25 this morning to be at the starting line before 4.30. I did not take part in the marathon (altho I've registered for the 6km fun run!) but joined Gemilang Association as the official photographer for the event. And to make things worse, it was raining. I've taken photos "during the rain" but this is the first time "in the rain". With my expensive toy, I did not want to take any risk and had to shoot the start of the marathon under an umbrella. Luckily the rain stopped when I was shooting on location in Subok.
I didn't have lunch that day coz so nervous with my work. I was also a bit nervous as the MC before the dinner. But when I've done my duty, and it was time for dinner I decided to be selective as there was just too many choices. So I started with bread and butter...
Then on one big plate I mixed a portion of everything starting with "green rice"
grilled prawn (yummy but the prawn not really fresh!)
grilled beef
squid
lamb chop (there goes my diet and weight watch, not forgetting cholestrol watch)
grilled salmon (well, how can you give this a miss?)
ah the drumstick. After all that I went for a small (I mean really small) portion of dessert
mango whatever (I forgot the name!) but this is really too sweet for my taste buds
and so was this one when you add the syrup and coconut milk.
Not been updating my photoblog for the past few days as I've been very busy with work. Attended the Board of Directors meeting, the Tender Board and been working hard with Gembo to finish a major project. But with hard work was a bit of reward since attending the Board meeting also means two nights stay in the Empire Hotel and never been without new photo ideas. Every stay seems to give me new angles of view. The food has always been good. (I'll post some photos later of these.) The major project was mega but unfortunately I cannot expand on this. I slept with my laptop last night trying to finish it and had to miss my Marathon official photographers briefing because of it. The dateline to complete the project today cannot be missed. The briefing was at 5pm at Taman Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin but I had just left my office at that time. How I wish I can fly...
The organiser, Pg. Hj. Sharifuddin and 
The Brunei Marathon 2006 is coming up this weekend 10th December 2006. For more info of the route go to http://www.bruneimarathon.com/ and even if you're not taking part, your support will be really appreciated.
ladies only - the sisters and their nieces (and a nephew who can't be far from his mum)
the fifteen brothers and sisters of the late Wan Ibrahim bin Malai Besar and Hjh Hafsah binti Muhamad
some of the nieces at their favourite spot... the staircase
The Nurul Iman Palace with the Water Village in the foreground...or should we say modern + traditional = magnificent landscape.
