World Sight Day 2012

World Sight Day

11 October 2012

 

World Sight Day is an annual day of awareness to focus global attention on blindness, visual impairment and rehabilitation of the visually impaired held on the second Thursday in October.

World Sight Day is observed around the world by all partners involved in preventing visual impairment or restoring sight.  It is also the main advocacy event for the prevention of blindness and for “Vision 2020: The Right to Sight”, a global effort to prevent blindness created by WHO and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness.

World Sight Day is a global event that focuses on bringing attention on blindness and vision impairment. It is observed on the second Thursday of October each year.

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 to promote the day for the following purposes:

• To raise public awareness of blindness and vision impairment as major international public health issues.
• To influence governments, particularly health ministers, to participate in and designate funds for national blindness prevention programs.
• To educate target audiences about blindness prevention, about VISION 2020 and its activities, and to generate support for VISION 2020 program activities.

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.

Public life

World Sight Day is a global observance but it is not a nationwide public holiday.

Background

The world’s population is ageing and people are living longer but blindness from chronic conditions is also rising, according to WHO. About 80 percent of the world’s 45 million blind people are aged over 50 years. About 90 percent of blind people live in low-income countries, where older people, especially older women, face barriers to getting the necessary eye health care. Yet, many age-related conditions leading to blindness – such as cataract, refractive error and glaucoma – can be easily and cheaply treated or cured. Timely intervention can often delay or reduce their effects on vision.

Lions Clubs International partnered with blindness prevention organizations worldwide to commemorate the first World Sight Day on October 8, 1998. This event was later integrated into VISION 2020, a global initiative that the IAPB coordinates. This initiative is a joint program between WHO and the IAPB. It involves non-government organizations, and professional associations, as well as eye care institutions and corporations.

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/events/annual/world_sight_day/en/index.html

What is World Sight Day?

World Sight Day: 10 October

Eighty percent of all cases of blindness can be prevented or treated; the right to sight can and must be fulfilled

Geneva, 10 October 2002 –An estimated 180 million people world-wide are visually disabled. Of those, between 40 and 45 million persons are blind. Due to growing populations and ageing, these numbers are expected to double by the year 2020 making a colossal human tragedy even worse, stalling development and denying a basic human right.

World Sight Day is an annual event focusing on the problem of global blindness; it aims to raise public awareness around the world about the prevention and treatment of loss of vision. The event, taking place this year on 10 October 2002, will draw attention to the right to sight. The day will focus on governments’ pledges to ensure increased access to health services in relation to both prevention and treatment of eye conditions. Providing access to eye care, which reduces the magnitude of avoidable blindness, is part of the obligation under the right to the highest attainable standard of health.

Up to 80% of cases of blindness are avoidable, either resulting from preventable conditions (20%) or being treatable (60%) so that sight is restored. Prevention and treatment of vision loss are among the most cost-effective and successful of all health interventions. These interventions include: cataract surgery to cure this eye disease related to ageing; prevention of trachoma; provision of the drug ivermectin for the treatment of the infectious disease river blindness; immunization against measles; provision of vitamin A supplements for the prevention of childhood blindness; and provision of eyeglasses.

Every five seconds one person in the world goes blind. One child goes blind every minute. It is estimated that over seven million people become blind every year.

“VISION 2020: The Right to Sight” is a global initiative, launched in 1999, which aims to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020. VISION 2020 programmes have been adopted in more than 40 countries.

“Partners, including governments, working together under VISION 2020 can make a major difference to the lives of millions of women, men and children already visually disabled or at risk. Preserving or restoring vision can be accomplished at little cost and can help lift people out of poverty. They can then contribute fully to their families, communities and national development,” said Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO). “Eye care, therefore, needs to be a priority,” she added, “and it’s not just an issue for health ministries.”

The causes of avoidable blindness are frequently associated with poverty and lack of access to quality eye care services. Avoidable blindness is more common in the poorest of the poor, women and marginalized populations. Ninety percent of the world’s blind people live in developing countries; there are at least 9 million blind people in India, six million in China and seven million in Africa. People who live in the developing world are five to ten times more likely to go blind than people who live in highly industrialized countries.

Therefore, VISION 2020 considers the elimination of preventable and curable blindness in the context of global development. Visual disability has far-reaching implications touching on all aspects of human development – social, economic and quality of life.

VISION 2020 is a joint initiative of WHO and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB). They are joined by other UN agencies, governments, eye care organizations, health professionals, philanthropic institutions and individuals all working together in partnership to eliminate avoidable blindness.

Key strategies of VISION 2020 are: increasing awareness of this major public health issue; mobilizing additional resources (the annual spending on blindness prevention, $US 100 million, needs to double); controlling the major causes of avoidable blindness; training ophthalmologists and other personnel in eye care; and providing appropriate technology and infrastructure.

The annual World Sight Day provides an opportunity to become more aware and more committed to ensuring the right to sight for all. Hundreds of events will take place throughout the world to mark this occasion.

Source:

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/pr79/en/

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/events/annual/world_sight_day/en/index.html

10 Facts about Blindness

Fact 1

Worldwide, 285 million people are visually impaired due to various cases; 39 million of them are blind.

Fact 2

121 million are visually impaired because of uncorrected refractive errors (near-sightedness, far-sightedness or astigmatism). Almost all of them could have normal vision restored with eyeglasses, contact lenses or refractive surgery.

Fact 3

90% of visually impaired people live in low- and middle-income countries.

Fact 4

51% of all blindness is due to age-related cataract, the leading cause of blindness.

Fact 5

Cataract surgery and correction of refractive errors are among the most cost-effective health interventions.

Fact 6

Age-related causes of visual impairment and blindness are increasing, as is blindness due to uncontrolled diabetes.

Fact 7

Up to 80% of all blindness in adults is preventable or treatable. Among children, the major causes of avoidable blindness include cataract, retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), and Vitamin A deficiency.

Fact 8

Blindness caused by infectious diseases is decreasing globally due to public health action. Blinding trachoma affects 40 million people today, compared to 360 million in 1985.

Fact 9

Around 1.4 million children under age 15 are blind. Yet approximately half of all childhood blindness can be avoided by treating diseases early and by correcting abnormalities at birth such as cataract and glaucoma.

Fact 10

For decades, WHO has been working with global partners to eliminate the main causes of avoidable blindness, strengthening country-level efforts by providing technical assistance, monitoring and coordination.

Source: http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/blindness/en/index.html

What are the Main Causes of Blindness?

According to World Health Organization there are 285 million people are visually impaired worldwide, among them 39 million are blind and 246 have low vision.

About 90% of the world’s visually impaired live in developing countries.

‘ Globally, uncorrected refractive errors are the main cause of visual impairment; cataracts remain the leading cause of blindness in middle- and low-income countries. ‘

The number of people visually impaired from infectious diseases has greatly reduced in the last 20 years. 80% of all visual impairment can be avoided or cured.

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Definitions

There are four levels of visual function, according to the International Classification of Diseases -10 (Update and Revision 2006):

• Normal Vision
• Moderate Visual Impairment
• Severe Visual Impairment
• Blindness.

Moderate visual impairment combined with severe visual impairment are grouped under the term “low vision”: low vision taken together with blindness represents all visual impairment.

The causes of visual impairment

Globally the major causes of visual impairment are:

• Uncorrected refractive errors (myopia, hyperopia or astigmatism), 43 %

• Cataract, 33%

• Glaucoma, 2%.

 Who is at risk?

Approximately 90% of visually impaired people live in developing countries.

People aged 50 and over

About 65 % of all people who are visually impaired are aged 50 and older, while this age group comprises about 20 % of the world’s population. With an increasing elderly population in many countries, more people will be at risk of age-related visual impairment.

Children below age 15

An estimated 19 million children are visually impaired. Of these, 12 million children are visually impaired due to refractive errors, a condition that could be easily diagnosed and corrected. 1.4 million are irreversibly blind for the rest of their lives.

Changes over the last twenty years

Overall, visual impairment worldwide has decreased since the early 1990s. This is despite an aging global elderly population. This decrease is principally the result of a reduction in visual impairment from infectious diseases through concerted public health action.

The global response to prevention of blindness

Globally, 80% of all visual impairment can be prevented or cured. Areas of progress over the last 20 years include:

• governments establishing national programmes to prevent and control visual impairment;
• eye care services increasingly integrated into primary and secondary health care systems, with a focus on the provision of services that are available, affordable and high quality;
• campaigns to raise awareness, including school-based education; and
• stronger international partnerships, with engagement of the private sector and civil society.

Data over the last 20 years shows that there has been significant progress in preventing and curing visual impairment in many countries. Furthermore, there has been a massive reduction in onchocerciasis-related blindness as part of a significant reduction in the disease. This has been achieved through a number of successful international partnerships.