World Sight Day is celebrated annually on every second Thursday of October in an effort to spread awareness regarding global attention on blindness and vision impairment. This year the Day will be on 11th of October.

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The World Sight Day was established by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2000 with the goal for raising awareness about vision impairment and blindness through the initiative designed by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness and the WHO entitled “VISION 2020: The Right to Sight.”

According to a report, till the date, about 38 million people across the globe are blind from which four out of five cases of blindness are avoidable which means on an average about 80 percent of people who are blind should not have lost their sight. Added 217 million people have moderate to severe vision impairment (MSVI).

What are the Major Causes of Preventable Blindness?

• Uncorrected refractive errors, such as farsightedness, nearsightedness, and astigmatism

• Unoperated cataracts, which is a clouding with the lens of the eye

• Glaucoma

Well, the uncorrected refractive errors account for about 40 to 45 percent of global cases of preventable blindness, whereas unoperated cataracts cause about 30 to 33 percent and glaucoma is responsible for 2 percent respectively.

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What is the Theme of the World Sight Day 2018?

This year the theme of the World Sight Day 2018 is “Call to Action for World Sight Day is: Eye Care Everywhere.”

World Sight Day is the most important communications and advocacy event on the healthcare calendar. It is a great time to engage with other people in the world around us particularly a patient’s family, those who often get an eye exam.

This year, let us move an attention to eye care issues so that everywhere, everyone has access to good eye health. Now, what’s the first thing you can do? First of all plan for an eye examination. Look around in your family and relatives, especially for those who are young, school-going children, elderly people, those with diabetes.

the IAPB organization encourages members and supporting organizations to download World Sight Day 2018 promotional material from this page.

What are the Steps for Preventing Avoidable Blindness and Preserving Sight?

• Get regular eye care.

• Learn about any family history of vision problems.

• Eat a nutritious diet and exercise regularly.

• Take all medications as prescribed by the doctor

• Quit smoking and reduce alcohol consumption.

• Wear eye protection to avoid eye injuries.

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