We all are aware of how sensitive our eyes are, but are we taking enough care? Imagine your life without your eyes. It’s scary, isn’t it? Our eyes are such an important part of our human body, and they help us to explore beautiful things around us, and yet, we sometimes, take our eye care for granted.
According to a recent survey, India is home to 40% of the world’s blind population; one-third of our population needs glasses but doesn’t have access to them and on a global level about 285 million people are visually impaired. Not taking proper eye care is one of the root causes of blindness in our country. In India, there are only about 12,000 ophthalmologists for a 1 billion-plus population, resulting in a ratio of one ophthalmologist for every 90,000 people.
Our government and many NGOs are actively participating in raising awareness about eye-care in India, but still, a lot needs to be done when it comes to awareness. For example, how many of us are aware that 10th October is World Sight Day? It is a global event that was created in 2000 to draw attention to blindness and visual impairment. This theme highlights the importance of making sure that everyone everywhere has access to good eye health. It has been integrated into Vision 2020, which was launched by the WHO together with more than 20 international NGOs that aim to provide support and advocacy to prevent blindness worldwide by the year 2020. And we personally feel World Sight Day is a brilliant move to engage with the audience and encouraging people to get their eyes checked at regular intervals.
SHARP NGO 