SightDay

World Sight Day, on the second Thursday of October, is a worldwide initiative to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020. Started in 2000, it is the main advocacy event for "VISION 2020: The Right to Sight", a global effort to prevent blindness. VISION 2020 is coordinated by WHO, the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness and public and private partners.

About 37 million people worldwide are blind and 124 million people have poor vision. Three-quarters of cases of blindness are treatable or preventable. Without intervention, the number of people who are blind will increase to 75 million by 2020. WHO works with Member States to develop and implement national eye care plans. The Day provides a platform to mobilize broader blindness prevention efforts.

On World Sight Day, VISION 2020 members work together to:

	Raise public awareness of blindness & vision impairment as major international public health issues
	Influence Governments/Ministers of Health to participate in and designate funds for national blindness prevention programmes
	Educate target audiences about blindness prevention, about VISION 2020 and its activities, and to generate support for VISION 2020 programme activities

International Key Messages

	Approximately 314 million people suffer serious vision impairment
	Of these, 45 million people are blind and 124 million have low vision
	Yet 75% of blindness is avoidable - i.e. treatable and/or preventable
	90% of vision impaired people live in developing countries
	Restorations of sight, and blindness prevention strategies are among the most cost-effective interventions in health care
	Infectious causes of blindness are decreasing as a result of public health interventions and socio-economic development. Blinding trachoma now affects fewer than 80 million people, compared to 360 million in 1985
	153 million people’s vision impairment is due to uncorrected refractive errors. In most cases, normal vision could be restored with eyeglasses
	Aging populations and lifestyle changes mean that chronic blinding conditions such as diabetic retinopathy are now rising
	Women face a greater risk of vision loss than men without proper interventions, 76 million people could be blind by 2020
	Without effective, major intervention, the number of blind people worldwide is projected to increase to 76 million by 2020

Back