Posted by Sandy Hutchens
The Issue
There are 37 million blind people and a further 135 million people with serious visual impairment in the world today.
If urgent action is not taken, these numbers will double over the next 20 years. This is unacceptable both from a humanitarian and socio-economic point of view.
Cost-effective interventions are available for all major blinding conditions.
The Problem
The resources available are insufficient to tackle the problem, particularly in developing countries where nine out of 10 of the world’s blind live. There is a lack of trained eye personnel, medicines, ophthalmic equipment, eye care facilities and patient referral systems.
The Solution
VISION 2020 – an international partnership between those working for blindness prevention has been formed. This is a new initiative to raise awareness, mobilise resources and develop national blindness prevention programmes with governments to prevent an additional 100 million people from being blind by 2020.