October 8-World Sight Day 2009 "Gender and Eye Health – equal access to care" #WSD09

VISION 2020 - World Sight Day 2009

• World Sight Day 2009
• The theme of World Sight Day 2009 (WSD09) is: Gender and Eye Health – equal access to care
• Global Key Messages for WSD09 Nearly two-thirds of blind people worldwide are women & girls In many places, men have twice the access to eye care as women Equal access to eye care could substantially reduce blindness in poor countries* Simple and effective strategies can and do successfully address this inequity within VISION 2020: The Right to Sight
• Don't forget: 80% of blindness is avoidable - either treatable, curable or preventable 90% of blind people live in low-income countries Cataract is the leading cause of blindness – yet it is curable by a simple, cost-effective operation 8 million people worldwide are blind due to uncorrected refractive errors. A simple sight test and glasses could restore sight to most of these people

• Up to 80% of the world's blindess is avoidable.

  Avoidable blindness is defined as blindness which could be either treated or prevented by known, cost-effective means. Although there are many other causes of vision impairment, VISION 2020 seeks to address the main causes of avoidable blindness, in order to have the greatest possible impact on vision loss worldwide.

  The target disease areas for VISION 2020 are:

  Cataract

  Trachoma

  Onchocerciasis

  Childhood Blindness

  Refractive Error

  Low Vision

  Glaucoma

  Diabetic Retinopathy

  Age Related Macular Degeneration

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