In parallel with WHO’s celebration of the World Sight Day, observed annually on the second Thursday of October and this year under the theme «Hope in Sight», the Ministry of Health (MOH) has celebrated this event. Through several infographics published on its Twitter page and its awareness platform, MOH has provided educational guidelines and tips to maintain eye health and safety.
The World Sight Day aims to raise awareness about the importance of blindness prevention, raise the level of health awareness of eye health and safety among all community members by means of highlighting common eye diseases, methods of treatment and prevention, as well as enabling everyone to have access to comprehensive eye care services.
In fact, at least 2.2 billion people worldwide have a vision impairment or blindness, of whom at least 1 billion have a vision impairment that could have been prevented or has yet to be addressed. Nearly 90% of blind people live in developing countries. The two main causes of vision impairment are refractive errors and uncorrected cataracts. People with low vision are more than 50 years old.
Concerning distance vision, 188.5 million people have mild vision impairment, 217 million have moderate to severe vision impairment, and 36 million people are blind. As for near vision, 826 million people live with a near vision impairment.
According to statistics, around 80% of vision impairments at the international level could be prevented. Effective interventions are available for prevention and treatment of eye diseases. For example, uncorrected refractive error can be corrected with glasses while cataract surgery can restore vision. Moreover, vision rehabilitation is also effective in improving functioning for people with an irreversible vision impairment.