World Sight Day 2009
Eye health and equal access to care
World Sight Day is an annual day of awareness to focus global attention on blindness, visual impairment and rehabilitation of the visually impaired held on the second Thursday in October. This year the focus is on eye health and equal access to care.
Visual impairment globally is most prevalent in men and women 50 years and older: while the majority of eye conditions for this age group, such as cataract, can be easily treated, in some parts of the world there is still the need to ensure that women and men receive eye care services on an equal basis.
The role of women
This year on World Sight Day the WHO also acknowledges the role of women in the prevention of blindness and visual impairment. Throughout the world, including in developing countries, they often form the backbone of eye health care services provision: they work as ophthalmologists, ophthalmic nurses and community workers, among others. They are the major care givers in the neonatal units for preterm babies who are at risk of retinopathy of prematurity.
As a notable example, women are in charge of more than one half of the Child-Friendly Eye Care Centres established by the Lions International and WHO since 2001 in all regions of the world: the centres have delivered preventive, therapeutic and rehabilitative service to over 100 million children and have trained more than 50 thousand eye care personnel. The photograph portrays eye care personnel in the Centre in Kiev, Ukraine.
Partners
World Sight Day is celebrated around the world by all partners involved in preventing visual impairment or restoring sight: it is the main advocacy event for prevention of blindness as well as for "Vision 2020: The Right to Sight", a global effort to prevent blindness created by WHO and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness.