World Sight Day focuses on priority needs of individual countries
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A blind boy learning to record his voice on cassette tape with the help of a friend UN Photo/Sally Dimartini
Approximately 285 million people worldwide are visually impaired nearly 40 million of whom are blind, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
World Sight Day is being observed on 11 October this year to focus attention on the issues of visual impairment and what is being done to restore sight.
Gerry Adams reports
World Sight Day is observed on the second Thursday in October each year by WHO and all partners involved in preventing visual impairment or restoring sight.
WHO says the day is also the main advocacy event for the prevention of blindness.
It also highlights "Vision 2020: The Right to Sight" which is a global effort to prevent blindness launched by WHO and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness.
There is no global theme for the Day this year so that participating organizations can use the occasion to highlight their own priority areas.
For example, in Egypt, where there are nearly one million blind people, organizations are focusing on the major causes of blindness, which are cataract, glaucoma, trachoma and diabetic retinopathy.
Gerry Adams, United Nations.
Duration: 54″
