Today, October 13, 2016, is World Sight Day.
World Sight Day is an annual event that focuses global attention on blindness and vision impairment.1 This day is brought to attention by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) along with countless businesses and nonprofit organizations who aim to inform and educate the world about how critically important maintaining good eye health is.
This year’s World Sight Day focuses on the theme of being “Stronger Together.”
IAPB encourages you to think of what it takes and all those involved to deliver proper and successful eye care: ophthalmologists, optometrists, nurses, patients, donors, caregivers, and many more. Encouraging healthy eyesight through proper eye care is made possible by working together, and thus the theme of being stronger together comes about. This year and hereafter we all need focus on bringing in even more support, like the diabetic community, the irreparably blind, vulnerable groups, and those with other disabilities to grow even stronger and better informed.
Hakim Optical is passionate about raising awareness for the importance of regular comprehensive eye exams and maintaining healthy eyesight for all ages. We’ve gone through many topics of maintaining eye health on our blog, from keeping up with your child’s eye health to the way adult vision changes as you age. Hakim Optical are lens experts who know how fit all of our customers with lenses that fit their eyes and prescription needs just as they should.
According to IAPB, approximately 285 million people worldwide live with low vision or blindness. Yet 80% of visual impairment is actually avoidable, in that it’s can be readily treatable and/or preventable.2
And did you know that about 65% of all people who are visually impaired are 50 years old and older? IAPB states that this group comprises 20% of the world’s population, and as elderly population increases around the world, more people will be at risk of age-related visual impairment.3
Problems with vision and overall eye health can exhibit in many ways. For instance, prominent indicators of eye issues include chronic headaches, squinting, and even eye pain. When you schedule an appointment with your optometrist, you’ll be ensuring that your eyes are receiving the best treatment and staying healthy.
Hakim Optical is happy to support IAPB’s initiative in public education about eye health. Our Eye Exam Centres are available at many of our locations across the country to provide accessible eye exams for our customers.
1,2,3 IAPB World Sight Day http://www.iapb.org/wsd16