World Sight Day 2020 kicks off today

An annual day of awareness for the blind and visually impaired takes place today. World Sight Day (WSD) provides a platform in which the importance of good vision takes center stage. It always occurs on the second Thursday of October and features a central theme. This year’s theme is “Hope In Sight.”

The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) coordinates World Sight Day under the vision 2020 Global Initiative. WSD became an official IAPB event in 2000 and has been marked in different ways in countries around the world each year since then, according to its website.​

WSD serves as the main advocacy and public relations event for IAPB members and partners each year by highlighting the fact that at least 1 billion people have a vision impairment that could have been prevented or has yet to be addressed. The event delivers a platform from which organizations can encourage governments, corporations, institutions, and individuals to actively support universal eyecare access.

Photo competition

For over 5 years, IAPB has enlisted hundreds of photographers to take part in an international photography competition with the theme of each year’s event. Photos that are submitted to the competition are then used to build a growing resource for the entire eye health sector. The storage of photos are available in IAPB’s Flickr albums for use under a CreativeCommons license.

Alcon prioritized World Sight Day 2020 with these efforts:

· Alcon is continuing its 70-year, annual tradition of donating necessary surgical equipment, consumables, and vision care supplies to help surgeons provide free surgeries for uninsured patients in need of eye care across the Dallas-Fort Worth area at Cornerstone Cataract Clinic.

· Alcon associates are participating in Steps for Sight to help improve access to quality eye care. The global, company initiative challenges 2,020 associates to take 10,000 steps on World Sight Day to raise a total of $25,000 for 3 global eye health nonprofit organizations: Orbis, Optometry Giving Sight, and one surprise recipient to be chosen by an Alcon site.

· The Alcon Foundation released a new, video public service announcement highlighting the importance of eye health screenings, premiering at this year’s American Academy of Optometry (AAO) annual meeting.​

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