WORLD SIGHT DAY - OCTOBER 8, 2009
PRESS RELEASE
WORLD SIGHT DAY - OCTOBER 8, 2009
World Sight Day 2009, which will be celebrated this year on Thursday October 8th, has as its theme: “Gender and Eye Health – equal access to care” and focuses on the particular issues faced by women with vision loss, especially those living in developing countries.
According to World Health Organization statistics, nearly two-thirds of the world’s blind are women or girls. Moreover, it is also known that men are twice as likely to have access to necessary health care as women. This puts women and girls in a situation of particular vulnerability, lacking access to the treatment and services which could prevent and restore vision loss. And for women and girls who do become blind or low vision, they have less access to education, rehabilitation and employment and can become victims of isolation and abuse.
“We have much to do to change the attitudes of people about the importance of regular eye checks, however, our efforts must be doubled in the case of girls and women”, said Maryanne Diamond, WBU President.
Ensuring adequate and equitable access to health care, including eye care can and does make a tremendous difference to the lives of blind and low vision women. Appropriate eye care may prevent vision loss from occurring, it may lessen its impact or it may serve as an entry point to programs, services and supports that can make a difference to their ultimate success.
As the international organization representing the blind and low vision persons at the global level, the World Blind Union urges governments and healthcare providers at all levels to ensure that women and girls are informed about eye care and other healthcare programs and that all efforts are made to ensure they have equal access to these essential programs.
World Sight Day is an international day of awareness, held annually on the second Thursday of October to focus attention on the global issue of avoidable blindness and visual impairment. It is an initiative of Vision 2020, the global campaign whose vision is to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020, led by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) of which the World Blind Union is a member.
For further information contact:
World Blind Union
Penny Hartin, Chief Executive Officer
Penny.hartin@wbuoffice.org
WORLD SIGHT DAY - OCTOBER 8, 2009
World Sight Day 2009, which will be celebrated this year on Thursday October 8th, has as its theme: “Gender and Eye Health – equal access to care” and focuses on the particular issues faced by women with vision loss, especially those living in developing countries.
According to World Health Organization statistics, nearly two-thirds of the world’s blind are women or girls. Moreover, it is also known that men are twice as likely to have access to necessary health care as women. This puts women and girls in a situation of particular vulnerability, lacking access to the treatment and services which could prevent and restore vision loss. And for women and girls who do become blind or low vision, they have less access to education, rehabilitation and employment and can become victims of isolation and abuse.
“We have much to do to change the attitudes of people about the importance of regular eye checks, however, our efforts must be doubled in the case of girls and women”, said Maryanne Diamond, WBU President.
Ensuring adequate and equitable access to health care, including eye care can and does make a tremendous difference to the lives of blind and low vision women. Appropriate eye care may prevent vision loss from occurring, it may lessen its impact or it may serve as an entry point to programs, services and supports that can make a difference to their ultimate success.
As the international organization representing the blind and low vision persons at the global level, the World Blind Union urges governments and healthcare providers at all levels to ensure that women and girls are informed about eye care and other healthcare programs and that all efforts are made to ensure they have equal access to these essential programs.
World Sight Day is an international day of awareness, held annually on the second Thursday of October to focus attention on the global issue of avoidable blindness and visual impairment. It is an initiative of Vision 2020, the global campaign whose vision is to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020, led by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) of which the World Blind Union is a member.
For further information contact:
World Blind Union
Penny Hartin, Chief Executive Officer
Penny.hartin@wbuoffice.org
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