World Sight Day (WSD) is an annual day of awareness for blindness and vision impairment. Held on the second Thursday of October, World Sight Day is all about educating, inspiring, and creating a conversation about eye health issues that are often overlooked.
This year, WSD lands on October 8, and many organizations like The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) are gearing up to support those with vision impairment and spread the word about research and funds for national blindness prevention programs.
Here are just a few of the 2020 statistics that IAPB has gathered to share on World Sight Day:
- 2.2 billion people have a vision impairment that may or may not be addressed.
- 1 billion people have a vision impairment that could have been prevented or has yet to be addressed
- 2.6 billion people have myopia, including 312 million children under 19 years of age
- Millions of people are living with eye conditions that increase their risk of sight loss:
- 196 million people living with age-related macular degeneration
- 146 million people living with diabetic retinopathy
- 76 million people living with glaucoma
- 5 million people living with trachomatous trichiasis
- 277 million people living with high myopia
You too can participate in World Sight Day and raise awareness in your community about these eye health issues. IAPB has several sources on their website you can reference and share, including promotional materials and social messages for Twitter and other media platforms.
This year, the call to action and theme for World Sight Day is #HopeInSight. By spreading this message, we can educate people about blindness prevention but also influence government officials to advocate for eye health issues in our communities and beyond!
Source: https://www.iapb.org/advocacy/world-sight-day/
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