World Sight Day

World Sight Day (WSD) is an annual day of awareness held on the second Thursday of October, to focus global attention on blindness and vision impairment.

According to the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB):

• Approximately 285 million people worldwide live with low vision and blindness.
• Of these, 39 million people are blind and 246 million have moderate or severe visual impairment.
• 90% of blind people live in low-income countries.
• 80% of visual impairment is avoidable, being readily treatable and/or preventable.
• Restorations of sight, and blindness prevention strategies are among the most cost-effective interventions in healthcare.
• An estimated 19 million children are visually impaired.

Mrs Fatima Abed conducted a very informative assembly on what we can do to protect our precious vision. Have regular eye checks,children should have an eye test after the age of 3 and definitely before entering Grade 1. NEVER look directly into the sun, gazing for hours, uninterrupted at TV, computer and smart phone screens can cause eye strain. Follow the 20:20:20 rule – after 20 minutes change your focus and look as far away as possible [20 meters] for at least 20 seconds.