The awareness campaign is aimed at eliminating glaucoma mediated blindness, by encouraging regular eye check-up, which should include a check-up of the optic nerves which if damaged by a group of diseases called glaucoma, can result in vision loss and blindness.

However, with early detection and treatment, the eyes can often be protected against serious vision loss.

The optic nerve The optic nerve is a bundle of more than one million nerve fibres. It connects the retina to the brain.

The retina is the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye.

A healthy optic nerve is necessary for good vision.

The WGM Theme for 2017 is BIG – Beat Invisible Glaucoma.

Though glaucoma can lead to permanent blindness, there are many people who are still unaware of the risks involved in this condition. About 90 percent of glaucoma cases remain undiagnosed in the population as there are no symptoms and detection of the condition occurs after a physical examination.

Some basic facts about glaucoma include: 60 million cases of glaucoma are estimated to occur worldwide The number of glaucoma cases is expected to increase to 80 million by the year 2020 Above the age of 40, the prevalence of glaucoma is 2.6 per cent After cataract and refractive errors, glaucoma is the second major cause of blindness Glaucoma is the most common cause of irreversible blindness In India, the number of glaucoma incidence is 12 million The prevalence of glaucoma in the rural population is 1.7 per cent while the prevalence in urban cities is 3.5 per cent Eye doctors around the world are marking Glaucoma Week in different ways. The eye doctors of Ireland are highlighting that early detection is key to slowing progression of glaucoma and that regular eye tests are the only way to detect “symptomless” glaucoma early. At a late stage glaucoma is irreversible and results in sight loss and blindness as there is no cure for glaucoma. Vision lost from the disease cannot be restored.

Here at home, ophthalmologist Dr Desiree Murray of The Volunteers for World Sight Day, shares some findings from her research done in 2015, as part fulfilment of the MSc in Public Health for Eye Care at the University of London, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and as University of the West Indies lecturer in ophthalmology.

These are some local data: An estimated 40,000 people over 40 years living in TT have glaucoma, 10,000 between 30 to 40 years may also be affected.

People aged 30-60 years with glaucoma may be under-diagnosed.

There is a disproportionally high rate of glaucoma blindness in TT due to late diagnosis and suboptimal management.

Late diagnosis age: Older age at first visit is associated with blindness. A study conducted at the Eric Williams Medical Science Complex revealed that for every unit increase in age at presentation, the odds of being blind increased by 10 percent; 13 percent of patients referred to the eye clinic (25 of 193) were blind at first visit.

Message: Younger people and first degree relatives of people with glaucoma need to be encouraged to have regular eye examinations to check for glaucoma.

Gender: Compared to men, women were at slightly greater odds of being blind at first visit; 28 percent of glaucoma patients did not attend for their scheduled revisit appointment.

Women were slightly more likely than men to attend.

Message: This study suggests that gender is a social determinant of glaucoma-associated blindness. Women were more likely than men to be blind at initial presentation to the eye clinic, but were less likely to miss scheduled appointments.

A larger study to further explore this gender bias is warranted and gender differences should be considered in planning a national education campaign. Fifty-eight percent of respondents either strongly agreed, or agreed, that “I forgot” was a reason for not keeping appointments.

When patients do not attend for scheduled appointments it creates a backlog and increases waiting time to see a medical professional.

The introduction of a glaucoma liaison nurse to educate and counsel patients at clinic visits may assist in understanding reasons for non-attendance and may improve attendance and eye care following diagnosis.

Patient challenges A survey revealed some people are faced with an unreliable supply of medication.

Results from a patient questionnaire revealed the following: 73 percent of patients responded that the drops were sometimes, rarely or never available in the hospital pharmacy; 72 percent said they sometimes, often or always purchased eye drops; 40 percent responded that they sometimes, often or always run out of eye drops; Message: Efforts should be made to reduce cost sharing and out-of-pocket spending by patients for glaucoma eye drops.

Computerised systems to improve stock management should be considered. National targets for service activity should be set.

Existing health promotion and patient education programmes should be enhanced.

An appropriate national plan to reduce blindness from glaucoma, by reorganising glaucoma services should be formulated and implemented.

Treatment Immediate treatment for early-stage, open-angle glaucoma can delay progression of the disease. That’s why early diagnosis is very important.

Glaucoma treatments include medicines, laser trabeculoplasty, conventional surgery, or a combination of any of these. While these treatments may save remaining vision, they do not improve sight already lost from glaucoma.

Medicines, in the form of eye drops or pills, are the most common early treatment for glaucoma. Taken regularly, these eye drops lower eye pressure.

Some medicines cause the eye to make less fluid. Others lower pressure by helping fluid drain from the eye.

For more info: the National Institute of Health, https:// nei.nih.gov/health/glaucoma/ glaucoma_facts

DESPITE its many interpretations, sexual harassment has no place in modern-day society.

Women, like all other human beings, must be free and comfortable to co-exist in any space whether it is public, personal and most importantly in her workplace, where this global scourge exists to a larger than to a lesser extent.

Over the past three months, the (International Women’s Resource Network (IWRN) has received no less than ten complaints of sexual harassment from at least three countries.

Some of the victims have described their experience as horrifying in light of their non-compliance of the said sexual demands.

Sexual harassment is deemed to be unwelcomed sexual advances, requests for sexual favours, and other verbal and/or physical conduct of a sexual nature, and in this context, respect must be understood when “No” has been advanced as a response.

“Unwelcome” is the critical word in the definition as it does not mean coercive particularly in extenuating circumstances.

Understanding sexual harassment requires high levels of awareness of the types of actions associated with it. Let’s start with unwanted pressure for dates, unwanted and continuous streams of sexual teasing, jokes, remarks or questions; whistling at someone and the conversion of working discussions into sexual conversations. In other instances the harassment comes via the asking about sexual fantasies and/or preferences; the fabrication of lies and/or spreading rumours about a person’s sex life; offers to massage one’s neck; touching and r rubbing oneself sexually around another person; sexually suggestive signals; facial expressions, winking, throwing kisses or even licking lips. These are just some of the many behaviours that suggest there is a sexual harassment agenda.

Incidents of sexual harassment despite how minute they may seem or who is involved, require an urgent and appropriate response from employers.

Affected women who have sought assistance from the IWRN have been advised to report the incidents to their respective superiors and/or take legal action where necessary, but some of the feedback received has not been very positive, as some of those women have been intimidated and or even threatened with job loss. Within different jurisdictions, various types of remedial measures are available; however, in Trinidad and Tobago, the Equal Opportunity Commission is an avenue for making complaints of sexual harassment.

Women are urged to be continuously observant and vigilant regarding signals deemed to be sexually harassing and/or embarrassing. If these are not addressed in a timely manner, the potential exists for extreme discomfort particularly in the workplace where one needs to be focused in an effort to be productive on a daily basis.

To obtain a copy of the book With Women in Mind: 283-0318 or 795- 9531.

Sandrine Rattan is a communications/ branding consultant, author and president of the International Women’s Resource Network (IWRN) Contact: thecorporatesuitett@ gmail.com or intlwomensresourcenetwork@ gmail.com

It is widely believed that the role of the union representing the majority of teachers in the country would be one of negotiation and resolution of issues in a win/win model or, if not, as close to that as possible.

Encouraging teachers to leave their charges and classrooms to protest outside the parameters is certainly not what we want to teach our children.

There is already too much confrontation, strike, work-torule and go-slow action contributing to the “don’t care” and declining productivity in the workforce.

This is a bad precedent to set.

Now, there are several questions arising from the action taken by the protesting teachers and TTUTA officials.

For example, how come only 14 of the 48 teachers on staff were actively involved in the protest action? Is it that just over 25 percent of the staff support TT UTA or are members, and are we sure that this protest is not the action of these few teachers who are disgruntled because they have ulterior motives or personal issues with the school’s principal? It is common knowledge now that many workers in TT have very low work ethic and use their collective strength to force employers or administrations to allow them to get away with indifferent and “don’t-care” behaviour in the workplace.

If this is the case, TT UTA needs to take a rain check on some of these protests and not set a precedent whereby members will use the union conveniently to get their way.

WKS HOSEIN Chaguanas

Obviously, they view this as an opportunity to piggyback on a very serious social issue and get political mileage. But it is such a stupid thing to do.

Recently, we heard Dr Roodal Moonilal call for the Prime Minister to “step down” and to call a general election, following the triple murder in his constituency.

It is on occasions like this that you hear them the most, therefore I do not belief they are genuinely concerned about the number of people being murdered in this country, every day.

To them, the higher the murder rate rises, the more they view this as the perfect opportunity to play political football with the issue, which affects one sector of the society more than any other, both as victim and perpetrator.

There is also the call for Minister of National Security Edmund Dillon to resign on the basis of the high number of killings.

Ironically, when the UNC was in office in 2010-2015, five ministers occupied that office as the incumbent was replaced almost every year because the murderous epidemic never really changed.

It has always been the “strategy” of the UNC to use crime to help the party into office, because it’s aware of the emotions that come with crime and in particular murder. Panday did it in 1996 and most recently in the lead-up to the 2010 election, Stephen Cadiz made full use of the opportunity to enter the Parliament and politics following the death of Keith Noel.

What launched Cadiz into the national spotlight was the “high” murder rate back then, with Noel being the 137th victim.

But interestingly or ironically, he was a member of a government that saw the murder rate reach beyond 485 in 2010 and 403 in 2014.

He however maintained his comfortable seat in Parliament, sitting through his full term without a squawk.

The Opposition members’ politicisation of the crime situation today is even more stupid, because with their full fiveyear term in office, the country should have been much better off than it is today, through measures introduced. Now why after one and a half years are they applying pressure on the current Government when they did not create a platform of success for the Government to continue on? Has any of them questioned the foolish decision to squash the idea and vision of Patrick Manning to introduce the offshore patrol vessels? Are there any regrets over this decision now that the “spit” has hit the fan with more guns, ammunition and drugs entering our country, undetected? So Moonilal, Kamal Persad- Bissessar and company, the egg is on your shameless faces.

It’s time to stop the stupid rhetoric, because it isn’t going to result in the electorate putting people like you back into office on a “technicality.”

GARVIN WALTERS Tobago

Initial comments made by the president of the teachers’ association himself is that he was upset that the school principal had made available to staff and students gym facilities, installed security cameras and was working on making tennis facilities available to the student body.

Really? Is this reason for a body which is supposed to be looking after the interests of staff and students to be complaining about? Maybe I do not understand the mandate of TT UTA but to me these are issues for which the management of the school should be complimented and encouraged.

It is no wonder then that the student body rallied around the school’s administration in the face of what seems like an ill-advised protest by a minority of staff. It is a natural reaction to what they see as a recalcitrant few bent on impeding the progress of their school.

It is really a shame that we live in a society that seems to celebrate mediocrity, and any attempt to rise above that is persecuted.

Vikram Persad Chaguanas

The 80-year-old woman chose a 20-year-old man and her ex-husband chose a 23-year-old woman. During the wedding ceremony, the 80-year-old woman was smiling continuously, while her ex-husband carried a constant frown.

After the weddings, her ex-husband asked the 80-year-old woman why she was smiling and she replied that it was because of the maths involved as she knew that 20 can go into 80 but 80 cannot go into 23.

The calypso only came to life when the name Sat Maharaj was mentioned because the calypso crowd always loves to hate someone and since Basdeo Panday and Kamla Persad- Bissessar are no longer there, Maharaj is the obvious choice.

May I remind the public that Maharaj is a revered educator in sections of the community and is one who demands good behaviour and outstanding academic results of his charges and was recently praised by letter writer Lynette Joseph for the work he is doing.

For the record, there is less crime among his followers and always good scholastic results. Prof Theodore Lewis should study the life of Maharaj and he may find the many youths that he is missing.

Finally, as a professor in our local university and as a service to the entire nation and women especially, Chalkdust should have written on the topic “26 going into 82” as presently being addressed in our local courts as this would have shown that as men we are all concerned about brutality towards women.

Satnarine Singh La Romain

There is no question that there are a lot of men who are abusive and there is a need for serious work to be done to reduce if not eliminate all such behaviour.

It is simply not acceptable for a man to strike a woman, never mind the provocation. It may not be possible to eliminate it totally but we must never give up the struggle.

Equally unacceptable, however, is the apparent painting of all men with the same tainted brush. There are still a lot of men who open doors for women, who are polite to the point of obsequiosity, who treat all women with respect and would not even allow inappropriate language to be used in their presence. So why are we being made to feel we are being judged by the same standards as the neanderthal next door or that all of us subscribe to the same beliefs? It appears that good men are being lumped with the bad, which is a frightening development.

Karan Mahabirsingh Carapichaima

Earnings per share, according to the chairman, was $1.16. The share of profit from TTNGL’s investment in Phoenix Park Gas Processors Limited (PPGPL), which is the underlying asset of TTNGL, improved by 20.3 percent to $164 million in 2016, compared to $136.3 million in 2015.

Equally important, the improved performance of TTNGL (and by extension PPGPL) was directly linked to the focused efforts of the Company in rationalising expenses in the face of lower NGL production attributed to continuing gas supply challenges, and lower NGL product prices.

While prices stabilised in 2016, they were two percent lower in 2016 than in 2015, the lowest prices in a decade. Prices improvements have been noticed in 2017.

As promised, PPGPL has embarked upon several value-creating initiatives including product trading, which will diversify and enhance future revenue and profitability. Impairment reversals experienced in 2015 continued into 2016 as PPGPL accelerated its strategic initiatives to counter gas supply and price challenges in the shortest period possible.

Based on these results, the TTNGL Board has declared that based on the financial results for the year ending December 31st 2016, a final dividend of $1 per share.

Cumulatively, shareholders will have received a total of $1.50 per share for 2016. The Company’s dividend yield at the end of 2016 is 7.14 percent. The dividend will be paid to shareholders on April 12 on the Register of Members as of March 28.

This was the answer provided by airline representatives to members of the State Enterprises Joint Select Committee during a public hearing at Tower D of the Port-of-Spain International Waterfront Centre. Responding to questions from Chaguanas East MP Fazal Karim, CAL Acting Chief Financial Officer Marina Chase indicated that the total subsidy was $1,380,988. She explained, “All of that has been paid. Nothing is outstanding by the THA.” JSC chairman, Independent Senator David Small, acknowledged earlier concerns raised by D’Abadie/O’Meara MP Ancil Antoine about difficulties in travelling by air to and from Tobago. Noting that this is a frequent comment by parliamentarians from Tobago in addition to the wider public, Small remarked there seemed to be a “continuous excess of demand above supply.” He also disclosed that he went online recently and was unable to book a flight on CAL for September for the Great Race.

Small said it was curious that he could easily go online and book flights to destinations outside of TT but not do with respect to domestic flights. CAL officials indicated this was related to challenges with its booking system and those issues are being addressed.

In a statement, he said that under the People’s Partnership administration, a task force was established to deal with children’s rights and informed the work of the Children’s Authority.

He said a similar approach is needed in this case and called on the ministry to join the International Bullying Prevention Association which can be a reference on how other countries have dealt with formulating policies on bullying prevention and the rehabilitation of children who exhibit deviant behaviour in the school system and develop support services for victims and their families.

He said bullying has long term effects and can even result in suicide and serious crimes.

He said that he works with the Princes Town Youth Council and is in the process of joining the council with the International Bullying Association.

In fact, Padarath said he will take part in the association’s convention later this year in Nashville.

He said he is happy to use his voice to advance an issue like this internationally as well as in Trinidad and Tobago.