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October 14 -World Sight Day
World Sight Day is celebrated annually on the second Thursday of the month of October. In the year 2010, World Sight Day will be observed on October 14. The day is dedicated to pledging perfect vision for every individual on earth. It is a very important event in the world calendar. World Sight Day is globally celebrated. The occasion aims at bringing attention to vision related issues faced by millions of people all over the globe. The idea is to create awareness about blindness and vision impairment issues plaguing the world. Sight related issues are international public health concerns and must be accorded equal importance and attention.
World Sight Day aims to educate people about problems related to vision impairment. The day also reminds us of Vision2020 global initiative. It calls for all the governments to understand the vision related problems and find viable solutions. Unless, substantial resources are not allocated to fight for this cause, it will be hard to achieve concrete results. Organized under the Vision2020 global initiative, World Sight Day make us focus on the plights of people with vision problems. It is estimated that more than 45 million people are blind and majority of them live in countries where there is no special provision for eye care treatment.
First World Sight Day was celebrated on October 8, 1998. The credit for organizing this day goes to partnership between Lions Club International and blindness prevention organizations. Later on, IAPB coordinated Vision 2020 global initiative which is basically a joint program between WHO and IAPB, integrated this event. Since then, it has been observed annually on second Thursday of October. Several events are organized on this day. Some people distribute promotional material including posters, booklets and bookmarks etc to raise awareness. Students are also provided information about perils of vision impairment and how they can contribute to the cause. The slogan of this year’s World Sight Day is ‘The Right to Sight’.
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