World Sight Day
World Sight Day is celebrated every year on 13 October. The world celebrates World Sight Day to raise awareness of blindness and vision impairment. In 2000, the Lions Club International Foundation’s SightFirstCampaign got the ball rolling. To raise potential awareness of visual impairment and blindness, World Sight Day is commemorated every year on the second Thursday of October. This year’s World Sight Day theme is “Love Your Eyes,” which will be held on 14 October 2021. The near-and farsightedness of more than a billion individuals worldwide is mainly preventable or at least understudied. People of various ages are potentially affected by vision impairment, but most are over 50.
Visibility impairment and blindness may affect many parts of everyday life, from personal activities and interactions with others to educational and employment chances. Both the UN-affiliated World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) are heavily involved in planning World Sight Day festivities and activities. For many years, Lions Clubs International, for example, has been involved in promoting the day on an annual basis. “Love Your Eyes” is the topic for this year’s World Sight Day celebration. Awareness of eye health and the need to take care of one’s eyes are emphasised. To help with this, we should all get our eyes checked, and we should urge others to do the same.
History
In 2000, the SightFirst campaign of the Lions Club International organisation launched the World Sight Day project. The VISION 2020: The Right to Sight (V2020) plan was unveiled by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva on 18 February 1999. The right to sight was the focus of the sixth annual World Sight Day in 2005, held for the first time in 2000. The yearly topics have included, among other things, childhood vision disorders, gender differences in eye health, and the decline of potential vision in the elderly. “Hope in the Future” was the topic for the previous year.
The potential world’s population is ageing and living longer, but the WHO reports that the number of individuals going blind due to chronic illnesses is also growing. About 80% of the 45 million blind people on the globe are over the age of 50. As many as 90% of blind individuals reside in low-income nations, where older people, particularly women, encounter hurdles in accessing eye health treatment.
Age-related disorders that cause blindness may be readily and cheaply treated or corrected, such as cataracts, refractive errors, and glaucoma. The damage they do to eyesight can be delayed or even reversed if taken care of quickly enough. World Sight Day (8 October 1998) was marked by Lions Club International and blindness prevention groups worldwide. It was then incorporated into the IAPB’s VISION 2020 worldwide strategy. The WHO and the IAPB collaborated on this project. Non-governmental groups, professional associations, eye care facilities and companies are all involved.
Importance
Every vital job in our daily lives is made more accessible by our eyes, guiding us through our surroundings. As a result, our survival and well-being are directly linked to our ability to see. On its website, the IAPB explains that its goal is for the general public to join forces with organisations to campaign for universal access to eye health for everyone, including individuals, governments, and various institutions and enterprises.
While some individuals plant trees in honour of World Sight Day, others contribute a photo to a worldwide photo montage that focuses on the subject of blindness. Awareness-raising walks and distributing informational posters, bookmarks, pamphlets, and other information are just some of the various ways people may help avoid blindness.
Also See: International Day For Street Children Theme 2022
The most common causes of potential vision loss are untreated cataracts and uncorrected refractive errors. In addition, infectious illnesses of the eye, trauma and age-related macular degeneration are all critical factors to consider. The Member States recently endorsed a 40% increase inadequate coverage for refractive defects. In addition, a 30% increase in proper range of cataract surgery was recently supported by the Member States at the potential 74th World Health Assembly. As a result, global eye care coverage is expected to grow, but quality services are also likely to improve.
All Events: 2022 Events Calendar
Fun Fact
How Many People WorldWide Have Vision Impartment?
Over 1 Billion People Worldwide Have near-sighted or far-sighted vision Impartment.
