When was the last time you had your eyes examined? When was the last time you heard about it from your family, friends and coworkers? Every year on the second Thursday of October, World Vision Day is celebrated, which is the most important day of the annual World Eye Health Calendar. This year, the day is being celebrated on October 8, with the theme “Hope in Sight”. The purpose of celebrating this day is to draw the world’s attention to blindness and visual impairment.
Let’s promise ourselves on this “World Vision Day” that we will have our eyes examined today and encourage others to do the same. Look around you, especially school-going children, young people, the elderly and people with diabetes and encourage them to get an eye examination.
Statistics and research show that the world’s aging population, at a young age or youth, may suffer from visual impairment in the coming decades as a result of visual impairment due to vision impairment and diabetes.
There can be many causes of poor eyesight, such as diabetes, inflammation of the eyelids, eye injury, tachycardia, watery eyes (white cataracts), affecting the function of the small central part of the retina due to aging ( Age-related macular degeneration) or cataracts (glaucoma) etc. Most people over the age of 50 suffer from visual impairment, but the disease can affect people of all ages.
According to the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, 2.2 billion people worldwide suffer from visual impairment and / or blindness, of which at least one billion are. Those who can be saved from the disease or have not yet been diagnosed with the disease. In addition, 2.6 billion people, including 312 million children under the age of 19, are visually impaired.
In addition, 196 million people suffer from age-related macular degeneration due to aging, 146 million people suffer from visual impairment due to diabetes, 76 million people suffer from cataracts and 5 million people suffer from cataracts. They are at risk of losing their sight.
Visual impairment or visual impairment affects all aspects of human life, including daily routines such as interactions with society, school attendance or employment opportunities, and access to public services.
55% of the world’s visually impaired are women, while 89% are from low- and middle-income countries. If we talk about Pakistan, according to statistics, more than 7.8 million people in Pakistan are suffering from various vision problems, out of which more than 1.968 million people are completely blind.
On the occasion of World Vision Day, let’s make sure that everyone, no matter where they live in the world, is a visionary. Let’s spread the message that “hope is in sight”. One billion people in the world can’t see clearly just because they don’t have glasses. Three out of every four people in the world with visual impairment can be saved from this disease.
Safety and treatment
The following tips can be followed to protect your eyes.
Healthy foods: Include foods in your diet that are good for the eyes. In addition to carrots, green vegetables such as spinach, cabbage, broccoli, cabbage and lettuce are useful for the eyes.
Fish: Fish contains a large amount of omega-3 fatty acids. Omega 3 reduces eye diseases, strengthens eye nerves and protects against diseases such as dry eyes.
Exercise: To protect the eyes, relaxing exercises are also very important.
Use and safety of the computer: As an eye protection, keep the computer screen in a suitable place and keep a distance of 20 to 28 inches from it. Be sure to take a break every 20 minutes during work.
Light: Never work in dim light. In the same way, do not work with the light in front, but the light should always come from the back or from the right to the left.
Sunglasses: Use sunglasses regularly. Wear sunglasses that block the sun’s ultraviolet rays.