World Sight Day is observed globally by those involved in preventing visual impairment or restoring sight. It is also the main advocacy event for the prevention of blindness. 80% of blindness is preventable and 9 out of 10 people who are blind live in the developing world.
Some of the international key messages World Sight Day promotes every year are as follows:
- Approximately 285 million people worldwide live with low vision and blindness
- Of these, 39 million people are blind and 246 million have moderate or severe visual impairment
- Restoration of sight and blindness prevention strategies are among the most cost-effective interventions in health care
- The number of people blind from infectious causes had greatly reduced in the past 20 years
- An estimated 19 million children are visually impaired
- About 65% of all people who are visually impaired are aged 50 and older, while this age group comprises only 20% of the world’s population
- Increasing elderly populations in many countries mean that more people will be at risk of age-related visual impairment