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Today the Association will celebrate its 75th anniversary with a symposium in Groningen, which will be attended by HRH Princess Margriet. Dr. Dirk van Norren, chairman of the association, opens the trading day.
Virtually all of the ophthalmologists in the Netherlands are a member of the ANVVB. The heads of the ophthalmology departments of the Dutch universities sit on the board of the association. The association sponsors scientific research into study of eye diseases with income earned from member contributions and return on its capital investments.
The association’s annual meeting in Groningen today will include a symposium on preventable blindness in the Netherlands. Princess Margriet will give an introductory speech. Over 30,000 elderly residents of care facilities in the Netherlands are blind or partially sighted, as are approximately 11,000 mentally handicapped individuals, and over 1000,000 senior citizens living independently. Many of these people are unable to communicate their visual handicap. Young people can prevent blindness later in life by not smoking. The ANVVB has organised this symposium celebrating its 75th anniversary in conjunction with the Dutch Ophthalmologists Society, and the Netherlands 2020 VISION project group of the World Health Organisation.
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