The need
300 million people around the world are blind or vision impaired simply because they do not have access to an eye examination and a pair of glasses. Why not? Because in a number of countries there are not enough trained eye care personnel and there is no infrastructure to support these desperately needed eye care services.
Optometry Giving Sight funds the solution by supporting programs that offer not only eye exams and glasses in countries with little or no access to them, but that establish the infrastructure and human resources required for sustainable, quality vision care.
The link between blindness and poverty is clear. 75% of the world’s blindness is avoidable – either treatable or preventable – and 90% of avoidable blindness occurs in the developing world. People in developing countries are ten times more likely to be blind or visually impaired than those in the developed world.
Blindness or a visual impairment can keep people from going to school, working, and providing for their families. Your support could mean the difference between a life of poverty and a life of opportunity for someone who is needlessly blind or vision impaired.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes that blindness prevention and vision correction rank with immunizations among the most cost effective and efficient of all health interventions. In May 2006, the World Health Assembly, the governing body of the WHO, passed a resolution giving priority to prevention of blindness and visual impairment. This is the first time the WHO has made prevention of blindness a global priority, encouraging governments to take action and commit resources to the many simple and cost-effective interventions that can save sight and give a better quality of life to millions.
“The injustice of being blind in our world today simply due to a lack of glasses is totally unacceptable. This is Optometry’s opportunity to make a difference and to stand as a united profession to help give sight – and hope – to millions in need.”
Professor Brien Holden
Chair, Optometry Giving Sight
