New Delhi: World Sight Day (WSD) is an international day of awareness, observed annually on the second Thursday of October to focus attention on the global issue of eye health. This year World Sight Day is on 14 October.
The global phenomenon draws attention to blindness, visual impairment, and ways to prevent both. It is considered the most important advocacy and communication event on the eye health calendar.
world sight day history
World Sight Day (WSD) was originally started in the year 2000 as part of the SightFirst campaign launched by the Lions Club International Foundation (LCIF).
The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) and the World Health Organization (WHO) coordinate and organize World Sight Day (WSD) every year. Each year, the theme is decided by the IAPB.
Countries across the world have celebrated this event in different ways.
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom joined the agency’s cause in 2020.
Importance of World Sight Day
On World Sight Day, the IAPB works to raise public awareness of blindness and vision loss as major international public health issues.
IAPB members also influence governments and health ministers of various countries to ask them to participate in national blindness prevention programs and designate funds.
They also educate the target audience about blindness prevention.
WSD is supported by over 150 IAPB member organizations, including the world’s leading eye care NGOs, the top professional organizations for ophthalmology and optometry, and teaching hospitals, working together to eliminate avoidable blindness and visual loss. We do.
World Sight Day 2021 Theme
The theme of World Sight Day 2021 is #LoveYourEyes. The IAPB has chosen the theme of #LoveYourEyes to address the big picture of eye health at the national and global level and to highlight the importance of being aware of your own eye health.
More than 3 out of 4 people in the world are visually impaired. Keeping this objective in mind, the theme of this year’s World Sight Day is ‘Love Your Eyes’ to encourage everyone to go for eye exams, take necessary precautions and raise awareness about eye care issues that every Affects age groups, especially those who are vulnerable – the young, school-going children, the elderly and those with diabetes.
Through the Everyone Counts Global Challenge, IAPB aims to get more than one million people to commit to getting their eyes checked. So far, over 7,79,000 pledges have been made.
The IAPB lists the four Ps as it encourages people to “love their eyes” – prevent, protect, preserve and prioritize vision loss.
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