Today is World Sight Day, the day we take a moment to think about our eyes. Worldwide, there are about 285 million people who live with a visual impairment, and this number will increase as the world population gets older. Fortunately, most vision problems can be treated or prevented.

World Sight Day is an international day of awareness to focus attention on the global issue of avoidable blindness and visual impairment.The theme for World Sight Day 2015 is “Eye Care For All”.

In many countries, eye care is easily available. But not everywhere. Up to 90% of the world's visually impaired people live in developing countries, without access to accurate information and treatment. This is especially unfortunate because 80% of low vision is avoidable (i.e. preventable and/or treatable). This means that 4 out of 5 people have an avoidable visual impairment!

Another point of attention is that about 65 % of all people who are visually impaired are aged 50 and older. As the population in many countries is getting older, more and more people will be at risk of age-related visual impairment. If detected early on and treated correctly, many vision problems could be prevented.

To raise awareness for these issues, Optelec has organized several events.  Don’t forget to check the activities of other organizations near you to see what they do during World Sight Day.