Beijing ― EyeWorld Asia-Pacific magazine was launched here today at the Asia-Pacific Association of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (APACRS) annual meeting. The premier issue, dated June 2005, is published in 2,500 English copies and 10,000 Chinese copies. It is slated to be a quarterly publication in contrast to the flagship EyeWorld publication, which is monthly. In addition, the Chinese edition also will serve as the news journal of the Chinese Ophthalmological Society.        

“As an organization, our charter is to spread education, training and skills in the Asia-Pacific region,” said the edition’s chief medical editor, Graham Barrett, M.D., in speaking of the mission of the APACRS at a press conference to launch EyeWorld Asia-Pacific. “No country is more important than China in achieving this aim.”

Dr. Barrett, who also is associate professor, Lions Eye Institute, Australia, hopes to expand EyeWorld Asia-Pacific to be published in other regional languages.

During the launch, Dr. Barrett was flanked by HE Shou-Zhi, chairman of the Chinese Cataract Society, Ronald Yeoh, M.D., treasurer of the APACRS, Alan Crandall, M.D., professor and senior chair, University of Utah, and other dignitaries.

“The Asia-Pacific region is quite unique in that we have surgical skills that match anywhere else in the world, but in other areas there are still challenges,” Dr. Barrett said. “People are still blind from cataracts.”

While conferences certainly help to spread knowledge to combat eye diseases, Dr. Barrett said medical journals also are key ingredients in doing so because of their publication frequency.

“Because EyeWorld is backed by the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) and now the APACRS, the publication “therefore benefits from being associated with academic societies sharing the common goal of improving knowledge so as to deliver better patient outcomes,” Dr. Barrett wrote in a letter to the first EyeWorld Asia-Pacific readers.

“With the publication of EyeWorld Asia-Pacific the APACRS is taking the next step forward in providing an opportunity for surgeons to exchange information and share their experiences particularly in the field of cataract and refractive surgery,” Dr. Barrett said. “The publication will help the transfer of knowledge and information between different countries in Asia as well as the international community. The news journal aims not only to bring the latest knowledge and techniques to readers in the region, but also to provide opportunities for readership of the international edition of EyeWorld to learn of developments from countries in the Asia-Pacific region.”