World Sight day is an annual awareness day that falls on the second Thursday of October.
Its objective is to bring attention to blindness and vision impairment. WSD is coordinated by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness under the VISION 2020 Global Initiative.
World Vision Facts from IAPB:
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 world’s population
Increasing elderly populations in many countries mean that more people will be at risk of age-related visual impairment.
For more information and resources visit the IAPB’s World Sight Day page
