The African designer who doesn’t want to use Africa as a ‘gimmick’

— Fashion designer Chi Atanga is comfortable with an identity as a global African.

Based in Portugal and Cameroonian-British by background, he is currently in the U.S. looking for investment and sounding out potential markets. African-American communities are emerging consumers of music, movies and fashion from the continent, he says, and he hopes to ride the wave with a clothing brand that reflects his heritage.

For the time being, however, his Walls of Benin brand will be manufactured in Europe. His first line will be produced in Porto, Portugal, where he has access to a skilled workforce, reliable infrastructure and support from the European Union — all prerequisites for building a competitive fashion business which are still missing from most Sub-Saharan African markets.

“Personally I’m drawn to Cameroon and to West Africa,” Atanga says, “but private enterprise is difficult in Cameroon.”

On the World Bank’s 2016 ‘Doing Business’ ranking, Cameroon placed 172 out of 189 countries, scoring particularly badly on the ease of trading across borders. Expensive electricity connections and poor transport infrastructure add huge amounts of cost to manufacturing businesses in much of Sub-Saharan Africa, meaning that they often struggle to compete with businesses in other regions.

Fashion, along with other creative sectors, could be one way to overcome these barriers, as demand for unique designs and intellectual property from Africa increases.

The power of enterprise

Atanga insists that he believes in the power of enterprise as a way to bring people out of poverty, and in the need to move African economies up commercial value chains and away from simply exporting raw materials. But to have that impact, he says, his company would need to be large enough and robust enough to overcome the challenges that most of the continent’s economies present.

“We don’t want to use Africa as a gimmick,” he says. “We need to have scale, we need to have a name and a reputation.”

Investors in the U.S. have shown some interest, and Atanga is hoping to fund his first line through a crowdfunding campaign in December. After that, he will look again at finding a base in Africa. Rather than the west of the continent, he believes that Rwanda and Ethiopia, both of which have created ‘special economic zones’ that offer tax breaks for light manufacturing businesses.

Ethiopia in particular has made a strong play for textiles and garments manufacturers, building the infrastructure — in partnership with Chinese companies — to host factories making shoes and clothes for major international brands. The country hopes that increasing costs in Asian markets will make its relatively inexpensive labor force an attractive prospect.

Fashion faces challenges

African SMEs working in fashion face the same challenges as most other enterprises across the continent, according to Vanessa Erogbogbo, who works with a number of fashion and textile entrepreneurs in Ethiopia as the manager of the International Trade Center’s Women and Trade program.

Entrepreneurs — particularly women — often struggle to access finance to grow and access international markets. Erogbogbo advises the women that she works with to focus on unique, niche products that can differentiate them from their international competition.

“When we look at fashion and textiles and garments, the buyers are prescriptive, they want you to show them something that would interest them. You have to be quite creative,” she says.

The small-scale, women-owned companies that Erogbogbo works with have added appeal to conscious consumers, who care that the products contribute to better livelihoods in their country of origin. Proving the provenance of African products is important, but perhaps more so is creating new and original designs, she says.

“There’s a huge amount of interest. The stuff that these companies are creating is stunning, stunning, stunning, and consumers are always looking for new things.”

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Ask Alma: My wife’s emailing an old boyfriend in jail

Dear Alma,

I found e-mails my wife has been writing to an old boyfriend who’s now in jail. He will be locked up for a long, long time. At first I wasn’t all that concerned, but now she’s sending him pictures. I found out, because I read her e-mail when she’s not home. I saw where she told him, “I can’t wait to get your letters” and “I wonder if you’re looking at my pictures and thinking about me.” Even though this man is in jail, it still affects me just as if she was writing to someone out in the streets. Am I being petty, or am I right in thinking that she is disrespecting me? I love my wife, but this really makes me wonder.

— Mr. Wondering

Dear Mr. Wondering,

And wonder you should, but there’s more than a few apps on disloyalty downloaded on your cell phone. Why are you checking your wife’s e-mail when she’s not home? After addressing that, you can move on to your issue with the inmate. Nope, you’re not being petty. You just need to nip this rusty nail in the bud. It seems to me something was cockeyed before you caught sight of those e-mails. I’m not excusing her behavior, because infidelity is selfish and, yes, disrespectful. But some parts to this story you aren’t telling me. Tell her why you’re reading her email, and then ask her about her contact with him. Make sure you both honestly talk about both sides to this situation. Speak the truth to each other, not just saying words you think the other wants to hear. Equally important, listen to each other. If she makes this about you and the e-mails, then she’s not ready to own her unfaithful behavior. Yes, you were wrong, but she’s wrong too, and both issues need to be admitted, confronted and discussed. Give purposeful thought to what you two want out of your marriage. Since he’ll be locked up, as you say, for a long, long time, both of you can work at this and take the necessary steps to rebuild your commitment, reminding each other that your devotion is crucial to saving your union. And don’t forget to apologize to each other. It is my hope that you two will find your way back to seeing each other through new eyes – eyes of forgiveness, blinking with compassion and winking with desire.

— Alma

Alma Gill’s newsroom experience spans more than 25 years, including various roles at USA Today, Newsday and the Washington Post. Email questions to: alwaysaskalma@gmail.com. Follow her on Facebook at “Ask Alma” and Twitter @almaaskalma.

Baltimore commemorates World AIDS Day with citywide candlelight vigils

In Baltimore City, one in forty two people are HIV positive and the number continues to grow. Local, state and regional organizations want to change that trend and are campaigning for a “Getting to Zero” initiative— ZERO AIDS related deaths; ZERO new HIV infections; and ZERO stigma and discrimination.

This year, numerous non-profits, churches, government agencies and community groups will gather in and around Baltimore on December 1, 2015, World AIDS Day, to hold a candlelight vigil between 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. at various locations through the city listed below:

Chase Brexton Health Care, 1111 N. Charles Street, Baltimore

Celebration of Community, 10 E. Mt. Vernon Place, Baltimore

Institute of Human Virology-JACQUES Initiative

725 W. Lombard Street, Courtyard, Baltimore

Coppin State University-College of Health Professions

2500 W. North Avenue, HHSB 125E, Baltimore

Notre dame of Maryland University

International Pharmaceutical Student Federation

4701 N. Charles Street, Baltimore

Baltimore Alumnae Chapter Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc

2501 Springhill Aveue, Baltimore

For more information, go to Facebook.com/BmoreAwareHIV or call 410-327-3420, ext. 11.

Black religious leaders: No Trump endorsement

— Several black pastors invited to meet with Donald Trump on Monday have denied reports that they had plans to endorse the presidential candidate at the event.

And Trump’s presidential campaign has canceled a press conference with Trump and those religious leaders.

Bishop Clarence McClendon, a Los Angeles-based pastor who like Trump has appeared on reality television, was invited to the meeting but will not attend.

“The meeting was presented not as a meeting to endorse but a meeting to engage in dialogue,” he said Friday on Facebook.

“The Preachers of L.A.” star said he will not make up his mind to endorse until January 2016.

Bishop Corletta Vaughn, Senior Pastor of The Holy Ghost Cathedral and a star of the Oxygen reality series “Preachers of Detroit,” said she was invited to the meeting but will not attend nor endorse Trump.

“Trump is an insult and embarrassment. But he represents the country we have become,” she said Wednesday on Facebook. “ZERO experience … Flaunting a ticket of unbridled bigotry, sexism, racism and everything that is wrong with America.”

The meeting was described by the campaign in a press release as, “a coalition of 100 African American Evangelical pastors and religious leaders who will endorse the GOP frontrunner after a private meeting at Trump Tower.”

Trump’s campaign on Sunday canceled its plans for a press conference, initially billed as one at which Trump would be joined by those religious leaders.

“On Monday, Mr. Trump will host an informational meet and greet with many members of the Coalition of African American Ministers. This is not a press event, but a private meeting, after which, a number of attendees are expected to endorse Mr. Trump’s campaign for President,” Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said Sunday.

Bishop Paul S. Morton tweeted Friday that he refused to meet with Trump, calling the candidate disrespectful.

“I was asked 2 meet with Mr Trump too but I refused because until he learns how to respect people you can’t represent me thru my endorsement,” the founder of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship tweeted.

The announcement has been met with criticism from some black pastors given that it came days after a Black Lives Matter activist was physically assaulted at a Trump rally.

In an op-ed in EBONY magazine published Friday, pastors, seminary professors and Christian activists critical of Trump asked the group backing the candidate to consider the impact that endorsing him could have on their congregations.

“By siding with a presidential candidate whose rhetoric pathologizes Black people, what message are you sending to the world about the Black lives in and outside of your congregations? Which Black lives do you claim to be liberating,” the leaders wrote.

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Will evangelicals be Ben Carson’s salvation?

— Attached. That is one way to describe some of Ben Carson’s most ardent supporters. They have filled auditoriums in key states, stood in line to get him to sign books, and they have embraced his personal story as proof of God’s power to transform and to uplift.

At a recent event at Bob Jones University in South Carolina, when Sen. Tim Scott asked the crowd of 5,000 if they knew biographical details about Carson — that he separated conjoined twins and won the Medal of Freedom — almost everyone raised their hand. His ride atop national polls and in early states has been built largely on evangelicals, a group that first knew Carson as a pediatric neurosurgeon but now see him as a president.

“He’s the one. Very principled. Definitely also Biblical values, I do feel God is the answer to our nation,” said Annie Abraham, 50, who attended a recent Carson event in Las Vegas. “He is not diplomatic. He says it like it is.”

Yet, Carson’s evangelical firewall is now showing major strains, denting his national standing and Iowa numbers.

According to a new Quinnipiac poll, Carson has slipped to third place in Iowa, down a whopping 10 points since last month. He now gets 18%, behind billionaire businessman Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who get 25% and 23% respectively. His overall Iowa slump coincides with the hit he is taking among evangelicals. In October, 36% of evangelicals supported him; now 24% do, according to the Quinnipiac survey.

The decline comes as Carson has faced weeks of scrutiny over his biography, his grasp of foreign policy in the wake of the Paris attacks and as front-runner Trump has unleashed a line of withering attacks on a man he once called a friend.

His plunge in the polls brings to mind Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who started strong in Iowa before seeing a 15-point dip in his poll numbers over two months and then becoming one of the first GOP contenders to drop out, conceding that it is often hard to regain lost momentum.

Carson’s most fervent supporters still speak about him with a kind of intimacy and familiarity that can’t easily be eroded, but is also hard to replicate.

“Do you know what his middle name is? It’s Solomon. In the Bible, Solomon had a chance to ask God for anything and he asked God for wisdom,” said Jackie Brown of Indian Trail, North Carolina, who has followed Carson for 20 years. “He was smart enough to know that he needed wisdom, and I think Ben Carson is the same kind of man.”

Always a long-shot candidate, Carson now faces a surging Cruz. If Carson is the anti-Trump in terms of his demeanor, Cruz has managed to be a combination of Carson and Trump — he is fiery as well as a man of deep faith.

The Texas senator has staked his bid on Iowa and the “SEC primary,” when roughly a dozen Southern states will cast ballots on March 1. But before that, Cruz and Carson will battle it out in South Carolina on February 20.

A husband and wife at the Bob Jones University event illustrated the considerations that many conservative evangelicals are weighing as they make up their minds.

Sandy Powell spoke warmly of Carson: “Even if he doesn’t have all the experience, if he has the demeanor and surrounds himself with the proper people, he can do anything.”

But her husband might make a different choice, even though Carson appeals to him, too.

“I like Carson. I like a lot about Carson. He’s a good human being. I think he would be good also,” said John Powell. “But he doesn’t seem to have the fire in the belly that Cruz has. That’s kind of the difference: the temperament.”

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Ravens plan smart, tight defense against Browns

— Things can change pretty quickly over the course of an NFL season. Divisional opponents play each other at least twice a year. The Baltimore Ravens will face their first repeat opponent this season when they go to Cleveland to play against the Browns on Monday Night Football.

The NFL thought that these two teams would be playoff contenders, which is why they selected this match up for prime time television. The game isn’t likely to get the same ratings as some of the other Monday night games because both teams are struggling. However, it’s a chance for the Ravens to even the score after losing 33 – 30 at home to the Browns.

The Ravens plan on creating a different result this time around. The defense is playing much better, especially the secondary. The explosive plays that became a regular occurrence for opposing offenses have been reduced drastically. The defense has also found a way to create turnovers, forcing five in the last two games.

The Browns are well aware of the improvements their opponents have made. Josh McCown torched the Ravens defense for 457 yards and two touchdowns in their last game. He expects to see a better defense this time around.

“Baltimore’s defense has tightened. Sometimes things just happen in a game. We got rolling, but we have a ton of respect for this defense, especially the front,” McCown said. “It’s certainly evident on tape that they’ve tightened things up. We’ll be aware of that, and just like every approach, go in there being smart with the football, but at the same time, doing the things we need to do to move it. We definitely see that, though, on tape, for sure.”

Elvis Dumervil said the improvements have come as a result of the defense playing with more enthusiasm. He said there is a different energy level and they are flying to the ball. Dumervil saw a much better defense when he watched the Ravens film recently. He cited communication and knowing their assignments as reasons for a defensive turnaround.

Brandon Williams looked back on the first game against the Browns and recalled how the defense gave up too many big plays. The Ravens had the lead in that game, but the defense gave it up. Williams knows that this time, the defense has to finish the game.

“They gassed us a little in the run game, so definitely, we need to – first and foremost – stop the run game and make them one-dimensional. Other than that, we need to get to the quarterback a lot more. Last game, our defensive line had four sacks,” Williams said. “We know what McCown did to us the last game, so we definitely need to get to him and disrupt him. I really have faith in my defense to execute and go out there and do what they need to do and everyone do their 1/11 to come out with a victory. I feel like our defense on Monday will definitely show what we’ve become and what we can be better at.”

The Art of a People: Finding a Way Out of No Way

The Banneker-Douglass Museum opened its new temporary exhibition, “The Art of a People: Finding a Way Out of No Way,” on Saturday, November 14, 2015.

In this exhibition, internationally acclaimed and Maryland-based artist, Lilian Thomas Burwell is featured as the principal artist and guest curator. This 88-year-old master visual artist has selected nine highly accomplished artists to contribute to the show: Adjoa Burrowes, E. Lynn Coates, Oletha DeVane, Martha Jackson-Jarvis, Letitia Lee, Betty Murchison, the husband and wife team of Carole Beane and Michael Platt, and Gail Shaw-Clemons.

Artist Lilian Thomas Burwell

(Courtesy Photo)

Artist Lilian Thomas Burwell

Together, they consider how African Americans have, as Burwell explains, “historically not only endured but triumphed in the process of overcoming.” The exhibition includes a range of Burwell’s works, including “Orison Piece 1994-95,” where she demonstrates her concept of painting-as-sculpture and works like “Water People” and “Mother Nile,” where she reaffirms the African foundation of African American spirituality, to new works like “2nd Turaco,” where she advances both concepts. Each contributing arts presents a signature mural making manifest the African American saying of “finding a way out of no way.”

Lilian Thomas Burwell, born in 1927, was educated at the High School of Music and Art in New York and Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C. She attended Pratt Institute and DC Teachers College before obtaining her MFA at The Catholic University of America. After teaching art at differing public schools in DC, she joined the Visual Arts faculty at Duke Ellington School of the Arts. She has participated in over twenty solo, duo, and group shows in the United States and abroad, including the Smithsonian Institution’s Anacostia Community Museum, the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, and the Museo Civico D’Arte Contemporanea, U. of Palermo in Gibellina, Italy. In 1997, Virginia’s Hampton University Museum published her book, From Painting to Painting as Sculpture: the Journey of Lilian Thomas Burwell in conjunction with her thirty-year retrospective exhibition there. Of her work, Burwell states, “I am taken with the sense of art being something in which one participates and with which one interacts. The work of the artist is complete in as many ways as there are those who see or hear or feel it. I see the audience therefore, as a primary element in the fulfillment of a process as infinite as the life of the spirit.”

Here fifteen-year curatorial span includes: founding director of the Alma Thomas Memorial Gallery in Shaw for the D.C. Department of Education, curatorial director of the Sumner Museum and Archives, designer of arts curriculum for DCPS, art teacher at Pratt Institute NYC, head of visual arts department. at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, and adjunct art teacher as recently as 2012 at Anne Arundel Community College. She has also worked as a graphic arts designer for the U.S. Department of Commerce and a freelance graphic designer for thirty years. In addition, the artist has been lecturing and writing for a span of sixty-three years, about which she comments, “and still working at what I love at 88! “

Dr. Joni Floyd, director of the Banneker-Douglass Museum declares: “We are truly honored to have such a talented and giving artist lead an exhibition here—so much so, in fact, that we have given her three galleries to express herself, to showcase the signature pieces of her selected artists, and to engage the public in workshops on the creative process. It is important that we honor an elder, who has spent more than sixty years teaching us that we are all artists, if we only open ourselves to exploring the depths of this life principle.”

The exhibition is free of charge and open to the public during regular museum hours: Tuesday – Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. from November 14, 2015 through April 30, 2016.

Author pens book to help women live fearlessly

Masterfully crafted by Tiana Nicole, “You’re Not the Boss of Me: Goodbye Fear, Hello Success” is the latest in a long line of successful books for the author, marking a radical shift from fiction to female empowerment. Helping every woman discover her innate power and worth, Nicole’s latest masterpiece is poised to resonate across the nation with an uplifting message that will help any woman identify fears, quash them and succeed in life with gusto.

Author Tiana Nicole

Author Tiana Nicole

Looking back on her life, Tiana Nicole is amazed at how much she has achieved considering she wasn’t raised by her biological parents. Under the care of her late great grandmother from a very early age, the odds were truly stacked against her to be successful. Try telling that to her now— she has a degree in Computer System Technology; a degree in Psychology; and a Master’s in Business Management. Oh yes, she’s also a hugely popular author!

This unlikely success comes from Tiana’s ability to face her fears head-on and turn them into opportunities, a skill she knows millions of other women struggle with every day.

“You’re Not the Boss of Me: Goodbye Fear, Hello Success” is the author’s manifesto for every woman on the planet. It’s a bold reminder that manifesting dreams is within the grasp of anyone.

With “You’re Not the Boss of Me,” Tiana Nicole reveals the value of women determining the tools needed to face fear–the unpleasant emotion all women have to find the courage to conquer.

Because fear is the opposite of desire, Tiana Nicole reveals to women how the beast of fear can cripple their dreams. “You’re Not the Boss of Me,” has an important message meant to modify the way women cope with fear in order to achieve the ultimate success.

“To date my three novels have been very much along the lines of “chick lit,” with gripping stories ripped right from my imagination. But as someone who believes to the core of my being that every woman has a purpose well within her grasp, I decided to pen my next book to speak directly to the hearts of women around the world,” explains Tiana. “But I’ll also admit that most women struggle to see their potential and require empowerment to peel back the layers of fear and defeat. That’s my goal with this latest volume – to help women block fear and elevate their success to a level they could have never imagined.”

“You’re Not the Boss of Me: Goodbye Fear, Hello Success” is available at www.amazon.com or www.tiananicole.org. The ebook version can be purchased for $3.99 and the paperback for $12.99.

For more information about Tiana Nicole and her books, visit: www.tiananicole.org

Baltimore prepares for World AIDS Day

— Approximately 13,000 Baltimore City residents are living with HIV and the vast majority or 82 percent are African-Americans.

Each year, 500 hundred new cases in the city are discovered and, although the diagnosis isn’t the death sentence that it once was, it’s still problematic, according to health officials.

photo

(Courtesy Photo)

Baltimore City Health Commissioner Leana Wen

Ahead of World AIDS Day, which takes place each year on December 1, the Baltimore City Health Department is planning a host of educational and outreach activities, so much so that its spokesman said officials remain huddled trying to finalize those plans.

“We are already doing a series of outreach and education efforts,” said Sean Naron, the public information officer for the city’s health department. “We have gotten better with awareness and we’re seeing decreased transmission rates across the board and increased acceptance.”

Naron says the November 17th announcement by actor Charlie Sheen that he has contracted the HIV virus, which causes AIDS could serve to help raise awareness.

“I watched his announcement and fighting the stigma is a part of this, and when celebrities, going back to Magic Johnson, reveal they have it, people are more willing to be aware of the potential and understand that it’s an issue,” Naron said.

To assist the health department’s ongoing efforts, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has awarded the city a $20 million grant to help reduce HIV infection among men who have sex with men and transgender populations, with a specific emphasis on minorities. The grant is part of $185 million in funding distributed by the CDC to respond to the severe burden of HIV among gay men, transgender men and women.

While new HIV infections are declining across the city, they are increasing among gay men and transgender persons in Baltimore, according to the health department.

African-Americans are particularly at-risk as 82 percent of those living with HIV in Baltimore are black.

“This is not just a health issue, but one of social justice,” Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen said in a news release. “Thanks to this generous funding, we will be able to help African-American men who have sex with men and transgender individuals who are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS, both here in Baltimore and across the country.”

Through the grant, the department of health in collaboration with some community partners proposes to implement and evaluate a PrEP program in order to reduce the acquisition of HIV.

PrEP is a preventive approach to HIV infection that addresses risk behaviors and involves daily administration of the antiretroviral Truvada, to prevent HIV infection if exposed.

“We are taking an organized approach to HIV so that more people know their statuses, get into care, and stay in care,” said Patrick Chaulk, the health department’s assistant commissioner. “We will begin by working with those with the highest risk before broadening this effort to help all Baltimoreans.”

Further, the health department plans to use the grant money to improve engagement in HIV medical care by developing a collaborative with the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and local health departments to provide a comprehensive model that brings together experienced HIV clinicians, counselors and other behavioral health and social service providers into a “Care Collective.”

The Care Collective will develop best practices and comprehensive approaches to prevent HIV infection among high risk gay men of color and ensure that persons living with HIV/AIDS ensure that persons living with HIV/AIDS access and remain in care.

“I think the stigma has gone down over the past five to 10 years and over the past decade we’ve been able to cut HIV diagnoses in half,” Naron said. “I think we’ll see a great turnout on World AIDS Day across the country.”

Diabetes: Over one million African Americans to be at risk by 2030

You can’t feel it. You can’t see it— until it’s too late. Diabetic retinopathy, the most common form of diabetic eye disease, is the leading cause of blindness in adults age 20–74. It occurs when diabetes damages blood vessels in the retina.

Diabetic retinopathy affects 7.7 million Americans, and that number is projected to increase to more than 11 million people by 2030. Many African Americans are included in these statistics. According to the National Eye Institute (NEI), more than 800,000 African Americans have diabetic retinopathy, and this number is projected to increase to approximately 1.2 million people by 2030.

“Only about half of all people with diabetes get an annual comprehensive dilated eye exam, which is essential for detecting diabetic eye disease early, when it is most treatable,” said Dr. Paul Sieving, director of NEI.

With no early symptoms, diabetic eye disease— a group of conditions including cataract, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy— can affect anyone with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. African Americans are at higher risk for losing vision or going blind from diabetes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 13 percent of African Americans have diagnosed diabetes.

The longer a person has diabetes, the greater the risk for diabetic eye disease. Once vision is lost, it often cannot be restored.

Keeping diabetes in control is key to slowing the progression of vision complications like diabetic retinopathy. There are important steps people with diabetes can take to keep their health on TRACK:

▪ Take your medications as prescribed by your doctor.

▪ Reach and maintain a healthy weight.

▪ Add physical activity to your daily routine.

▪ Control your ABC’s—A1C, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels.

▪ Kick the smoking habit.

Additionally, people with diabetes should have annual comprehensive dilated eye exams to help protect their sight. Early detection, timely treatment, and appropriate follow-up care can reduce a person’s risk for severe vision loss from diabetic eye disease by 95 percent.

“More than ever, it’s important for people with diabetes to have a comprehensive dilated eye exam at least once a year. New treatments are being developed all the time, and we are learning that different treatments may work best for different patients. What hasn’t changed is that early treatment is always better,” said Dr. Suber Huang, chair of the Diabetic Eye Disease Subcommittee for NEI’s National Eye Health Education Program (NEHEP) and member of the NEI-funded Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network (DRCR.net). “There has never been a more hopeful time in the treatment of diabetic retinopathy.”

Remember, if you have diabetes, make annual comprehensive dilated eye exams part of your self-management routine. Living with diabetes can be challenging, but you don’t have to lose your vision or go blind because of it. To help friends and loved ones reduce their risk, share this article.

For more information on diabetic eye disease, tips on finding an eye care professional, or information on financial assistance, visit http://www.nei.nih.gov/diabetes or call NEI at 301–496–5248.