The eyes are the most important organ of the body that guides us in our daily activities and therefore should not be taken for granted. World sight day is an annual day of awareness held on the second thursday of October and features a central theme to focus global attention on blindness and vision impairment.
The eleventh annual
world sight day was on thursday, 12th October 2023 and its theme was “Love your Eyes at Work’, this day was first observed by the Lions Club International foundation in 2000 under the sight first campaign. The University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, ophthalmology has continued to support the campaign for better sight , offering services , training and research for healthy eyes/sight. This department has provided excellent medical services which effectively is achieved by the help of skilled and well trained doctors and other health workers. This year the ophthalmology team launched the campaign at a free medical outreach in Emohua, Rivers state , while hospital services were rendered also marking the world Sight day.
According to the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) the theme of the global celebration of the day was centered on encouraging workplaces to make eye health initiatives standard practices and promote eye health habits that will benefit the well-being, safety and productivity of thousands of employees. The main purpose and goal as to why *world sight day is celebrated is to increase the public knowledge of the value of the eye health, preventative actions and fair access to eye care services and also to encourage cooperation between International Organisation’s, National Government and Local Communities in order to reduce preventable blindness, offer vision care and enhance the system for eye health.
The importance of workplace eye sight screening cannot be overemphasized, a vision screening objective includes; identifying visual issues when they are still treatable, offering educative recommendations and if necessary referring the patient to an eye care professional for a thorough examination this ensures that the workers have enough vision to carry out their responsibilities securely and effectively which contributes to maintaining a safe and productive work environment. It also motivates staff members to prioritize their eye health and get required treatment.
The World is beautiful; make sure you protect your eye sight in order for you not to miss out on it!
