World Sight Day 2024: Theme, Significance, History, Celebration

World Sight Day is observed on 10^th of October with the aim to draw attention of people around the world on the importance of eye care. On the occasion of WSD, individuals are invited to join in celebration by prioritizing their eye health and the nations by ensuring eye care is accessible, inclusive and affordable to everyone. Observation of World Sight Day began in the year 2000 and second Thursday of every October was chosen as the day of observation.

World sight day 2024 theme is “Children, love your eyes”. Let’s check some other interesting details about this special day.

World Sight Day Date

Here is the full schedule of observing world sight day in 2023 and coming years:

World Sight Day 2023 Overview

Significance of World Sight Day

As per the data from International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, around 285 million people worldwide live with low vision and blindness. Out of these, 39 million are completely blind while 246 others have moderate to severe visual impairment.

Most of these people (approx 90%) reside in low-income countries. However, 80% of visual impairment is avoidable, given that they are readily treatable or preventable. However, there is much that needs to be done to provide eye care facility to each and every person in need of it. Spreading awareness of the eye related problems including blindness and vision impairment can help a lot in making eye care accessible to all.

With this objective, World Sight Day will be observed on October 12, 2023. World Health Organization has even made eye health as critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

History of World Sight Day Observation

The first step toward celebration of World Sight Day can be traced back to 1917 when the Lions Clubs International was established by Melvin Jones. The club organized different projects across the globe such as fundraisers for cancer screening projects, diagnosis and management for people with hearing disorders, community hearing, typhoons and cyclone victims, etc. ‘SightFirst’ was a campaign launched by this organization that started in 1990 and aimed to fight blindness due to trachoma and other causes of blindness. More than 488 million visually impaired people were helped under this campaign.

In 2000, a decade after the campaign was launched, Lions Clubs International and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness declared the celebration of World Sight Day. every second Thursday of October was chosen as the day of celebration and the first World Sight Day was observed on 12 October 2000.

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Why is World Sight Day Celebrated?

On the occasion of World Sight Day, global partners and members all over the world are urged to help show the world how important it is to #LoveYourEyes. IAPB has pledged to reach the goal of five million sight test and will also organize photography competition.

The IAPB World Sight Day 2023 Photo Competition will offer amateur and professional photographers an opportunity to demonstrate their skills and share with the world what they see and what it means to #LoveYourEyes. IAPB members will be arranging a screening and highlighting the importance of providing quality eye care to those with influence will drive the change needed. Individuals too can use their voice on social media to show how they are involved and others can be too.

Check: Days in October

World Sight Day 2024 Theme

WSD was launched to draw the public’s attention to the importance of following safe practices to prevent blindness and other vision-related problems. World Sight Day is often observed with a specific theme every year.

The theme of World Sight Day 2024 is “Children, love your eyes“.

Some Tips For Strong Eyesight

This World Sight Day, here are some simple tips for keeping your eyesight strong:

1. Give your eyes screen breaks by follow the 20/20/20 rule.
2. Spend some time outside and always wear sunglasses if its sunny outside.
3. Wear prescription glasses, if you need them.
4. Check your cosmetics to avoid eye infections.
5. Exercise regularly, eat a healthy diet and avoid smoking.

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