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Optometry Giving Sight announces 2019 World Sight Day Challenge
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Optometry Giving Sight recently announced the launch of its annual fundraising campaign, the World Sight Day Challenge.
This campaign was created to help children around the world who are blind or vision-impaired due to lack of access to resources such as eye exams and glasses.
“It is estimated that as much as 80% of what a child learns is processed through the visual system. An eye examination and glasses can mean the difference between a life of poverty and a life of opportunity,” Juan Carlos Aragon, MD, chair of Optometry Giving Sight, said in a press release. “A child’s ability to play and learn and to contribute at home and school is largely dependent on good vision.”
This year will mark 13 years that the organization has been encouraging optometrists, patients and students to get involved in the campaign by raising awareness and money to provide eye care for those in need.
Members of the World Sight Day Challenge coalition, which include ABB Optical, Alcon, Bausch + Lomb, CooperVision, EyePromise, Vision Source, VSP and Westgroupe, also help support the campaign. In addition, Primary Care Optometry News/Healio publisher, the Wyanoke Group, also conducts fundraisers.
“The gift of sight and the ability to help bring sight to others are among the most fundamentally noble things anyone can do, bringing an immediate palpable difference in a person's life.” Colin Connors, OD, Isthmus Eye Care, Madison and Middleton, Wis., said in the release.
This year’s World Sight Day Challenge will begin Oct. 10 and continue through the end of October.