World Sight Day 19 Outreach Program Report: VISION FIRST

World Sight Day (WSD) is an annual day of awareness held on the second Thursday of October, to focus global attention on blindness and vision impairment. It is a campaign which was initiated by the Lions Club International Foundation in the year 2000 to focus global attention on blindness and vision impairment. This year, the ‘Call to Action ‘for World Sight Day is: Vision First! According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), uncorrected refractive errors are a major cause of blindness and visual impairment and the leading cause of amblyopia in children. According to a study conducted by the WHO on World Sight Day 2006, it was revealed that an estimated 153 million people are visually impaired due to uncorrected refractive error at distance, out of this, 8 million people are blind. An estimated 45 million working adults and 13 million children around the globe are adversely affected by refractive errors out of which 90% live in low and middle-income countries. Thus in support of vision 2020 this day is used mainly to educate and provide healthcare to the general population to help curb the prevalence of ocular conditions.

Blindness and Visual impairment is a disability suffered by lots of people all around the globe. . Visual Healthcare practitioners all around the world form part of a great team that are working tirelessly to help curb this canker however the input of the majority is still needed to help push this agenda. Vision 2020 seeks to eliminate avoidable blindness and visual impairment by the year 2020.

This year as part of World Sight Day’s Activities Free Eye Screening Exercises were held in the town of Adum, Kejetia in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. To help extend the publicity and education of the masses a partnership was made with KessbenTV and Fm through which the educational information was disseminated. Because of this we had over 150 participants attending the event and we are proud to say each and every one was taken care of and were look after in terms of the ocular health. The event started at nine (9) O’clock in the morning and ended at five (5) pm in the evening as people kept trooping in whenever they got a break from their work place. A lot of beautiful moments were captured and some were entered into the world sight day picture competition held by the international agency for prevention of blindness (iapb). 70 volunteers were taken for the outreach which occurred at to separate venues all in Adum, Aseda House and Poku Trading, out of the 70, 3 were teaching assistants at the Department of Optometry with two lecturers in support.

This and many more is what we seek to do and basically what @bettervision is all about. We cannot thank our supporters and loved ones enough. We are very grateful for all that you continue to do for us. Hopefully as time passes by we hope to be able to do better with each passing moment.

What is @bettervision about?

@bettervision is is a project initiated by @nattybongo and friends to give back to the society the knowledge and skill acquired through the Optometric Studies in Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana.It is an outreach system where we visit the less privileged communities to offer free eye screening services and education to the people within the community

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
To reduce or prevent vision loss through diseases such as glaucoma, cataract and refractive errors.

To enlighten the majority of the Ghanaian population about the importance of proper visual care.

To conscientize people on the need for regular eye checks

To get more people to have their wards screened within the Critical periods of a Child’s Vision Development; thus from ages 3 to till about 10 years.

To help the blind and people with low vision live a better life within the society through education of the general public to stop stigmatization.

To help in the fight of extreme poverty that puts the health of people at risk

Our greatest gratitude goes to @fundition @adollaraday @surfyogi @girlsfoundation @bleepcoin @ackza @indigoocean @nanzo-scoop @steemstem @demotruk @pennsif @steem-ambassador @kasho and @wafrica for helping to make the aims and objectives of @bettervision a reality.