History
World Sight Day was initially created in 2000 as part of the SightFirst Campaign launched by the Lions Club International Foundation (LCIF). It was then incorporated into VISION 2020, a global initiative, which has been expanded and “built upon by a series of additional plans.” The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) and the World Health Organization (WHO) organizes World Sight Day events every year. IAPB takes on the responsibility of deciding on each year’s theme and creating the informational materials. From there, members and organizations plan their own events.
Purpose
World Sight Day focuses on a few goals every year. Firstly, IAPB wants to raise public awareness. Educating the public about blindness and visual impairments as an international health issue is crucial to this cause. Secondly, they want governments around the world to implement blindness prevention programs through World Sight Day participation and allocated funds. Lastly, they want their target audience to learn about blindness prevention, spread the word about VISION 2020’s goal, and gather support for related activities.
Globally, at least 1 billion people have near or distance vision impairment that could be prevented or has yet to be addressed. Vision impairment affects people of all ages, with the majority being over the age of 50. Vision impairment and blindness can have major and long-lasting effects on all aspects of life, including daily personal activities, interacting with the community, school and work opportunities and the ability to access public services.
Unoperated cataract and uncorrected refractive error are the leading causes of vision impairment. Other causes such as age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, infectious diseases of the eye, and trauma, however, cannot be ignored and need to be addressed.
Recently at the 74th World Health Assembly, Member States adopted two new global targets for eye care by 2030 ̶ a 40 per cent increase in effective coverage of refractive errors and a 30 per cent increase in effective coverage of cataract surgery. These targets will play a key role in not only increasing global eye care coverage in the future but also in delivering quality services.