World sight day is an annual day of awareness to bring attention to blindness and vision impairment on a global scale. It is held on the second Thursday in October which this year will be Thursday 12th October 2017.
It was established by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2000 & together with the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindess (IAPB) it is the main advocacy event for raising awareness about blindness and vision impairment for “Vision 2020: The right to sight”.
Vision 2020: The right to Sight
Launched in 1999 & sought to promote a world in which nobody is needlessly visually impaired, where those with unavoidable vision loss can achieve their full potential. This global Initiative was set up to ‘intensify and accelerate prevention of blindness activities so as to achieve the goal of eliminating preventable blindness by 2020‘.
There are so many causes of blindness which have cost effective interventions available.
World sight day is the most important advocacy and communications event on the eye health calendar. It is a great time to engage with the world at large. This year we are working together to ensure that we pay attention to eye care issues that impact lives everywhere, in both developed and developing countries.
“What Can I do?”
Look around your family members, especially those who are more vulnerable: the elderly, preschool children, those with diabetes and plan for an eye examination.
