World Sight Day is a day of awareness which is observed on the second Thursday of October. This even focuses on vision impairment and blindness. This year it is being observed today on 9th October. The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) and The World Health Organization are actively involved in coordinating activities and events for World Sight Day. There are many associations and communities who come forward in the awareness campaign to work together with WHO and IAPB. They aim to do the following:
- To raise public eye awareness for vision impairment and blindness as primary International health issues.
- To influence ministers and government to designate funds and participate in the blindness prevention programs
- To educate the mass about blindness prevention and to generate support for their eye care activities.
Through this campaign there are certain key messages that need to be delivered worldwide to bring about eye awareness and realization. They are as follows: Around 285 million people around the world suffer from blindness and low vision. Out of them 39 million people are blind and 246 million have severe or moderate impairment. Most of the blind people live in countries with very low income. Very few people realize that most of the impairments can be avoided with right prevention strategies like eye testing and cost-efficient health care. After estimation it has been recorded that around 19 million children are impaired visually. The number of blind people suffering impairment from infectious causes has reduced extensively in the past two decades. Around 65% of the people who are impaired are 50 years of age or older. But it is interesting to note that this age group comprises only 20% of the entire population of the world. If there is an increasing elderly population in different
countries then there will be more people at risk of age-related visual disorders and impairment.