World Sight Day World Sight Day is annually held on the second Thursday of October to raise awareness about blindness and vision impairment. World Sight Day raises awareness about blindness and vision impairment, as well as the provision of eye health care . What do people do? The World Health Organization (WHO), which is the UN’s directing and coordinating authority for health, and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) are actively involved in coordinating events and activities for World Sight Day. Associations such as Lions Clubs International have also been actively involved in promoting the day on an annual basis for many years. Many communities, associations, and non-government organizations work together with WHO and IAPB. Some people plant trees to commemorate World Sight Day and while others submit a photo for an international photo montage that focuses on the theme of blindness. Other activities include taking part in awareness-raising walks or distributing and displaying posters, bookmarks, booklets and other forms of information the raise awareness about preventable blindness. World Sight Day is a global observance but it is not a nationwide public holiday. World Sight Day’s theme for 2014 is No More Avoidable Blindness It is a sad fact that most of the people who go blind did not have to become blind. Most of the diseases that rob people of their sight, up to 80%, can be either prevented or avoided with access to proper healthcare and nutrition. Surgical intervention may also restore the sight of those who go blind due to cataracts. We want to reduce this 80% down to zero. In developing countries such as Bangladesh, cataracts are very common among elderly persons; however, payment is required to have their eyesight restored. Many people cannot afford to pay for medical expenses so they remain blind. This is a real shame as it costs governments less to fix the problem than to support someone once they have become blind. This also exacerbates the cycle of poverty leading to disability, and disability resulting in poverty. Trachoma is a disease that left untreated, leads to blindness. It is also highly contagious and can spread quickly through a village. Fortunately, if caught on time, trachoma is easily cured and with proper medicines and good hygiene, can be prevented and even wiped out where it is currently endemic. In the 21st century there should not be a single person going blind due to trachoma, but lack of access to trained medical personnel means this disease still thrives in many regions of Africa, and even among the Australian aborigines. •Approximately 285 million people worldwide live with low vision and blindness •Of these, 39 million people are blind and 246 million have moderate or severe visual impairment •90% of blind people live in low-income countries •Yet 80% of visual impairment is avoidable - i.e. readily treatable and/or preventable •Restorations of sight, and blindness prevention strategies are among the most cost-effective interventions in health care •The number of people blind from infectious causes has greatly reduced in the past 20 years •An estimated 19 million children are visually impaired •About 65 % of all people who are visually impaired are aged 50 and older, while this age group comprises only 20% of the worlds population •Increasing elderly populations in many countries mean that more people will be at risk of age-related visual impairment. Source: worldblindunion.org/English/news/Pages/October-9th-World-Sight-Day-2014.aspx iapb.org/wsd14
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 06:46:46 +0000
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