Helen Keller International Celebrates World Sight Day around the Globe

New York, November 3, 2005 – Helen Keller International (HKI) celebrated World Sight Day on October 13th with events in all three of the regions where the organization works: Africa, the Americas and Asia.  VISION 2020 launched the first World Sight Day five years ago in an effort to raise awareness about eye care and the prevention and management of blindness.  HKI is one of the founding members of VISION 2020, a joint initiative of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness and the World Health Organization created to eliminate avoidable blindness.

Along with Sight Savers International, Christian Blind Mission, Fred Hollows Foundation and ORBIS, HKI is also one of the implementing partners of the Seeing is Believing program.  The objective of this program, funded by Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), is to raise enough money to enable one million sight restorations by World Sight Day 2007.

Around the globe, HKI incorporated World Sight Day into its sight-saving program activities.  In the United States, ChildSight®, HKI’s free school vision screening and eyeglass distribution program, conducted eye examinations and distributed informational materials.  At H.D. Hilley Elementary School and Serna Middle School in Texas, more than 100 students received eye examinations, and more than 200 students and teachers received special World Sight Day fact sheets.  Meanwhile, HKI-Mexico conducted free vision screenings as well.  At a park in Mexico City, passersby lined up to have their vision checked while HKI staff provided reading glasses; a band of low vision musicians played for the enjoyment of the participants.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, HKI participated in a press information session after eye examinations were provided to residents of several nursing homes thanks to the generosity of the local Lions Club.  Government representatives from national DRC programs including those that address eye health, onchocerciasis and nutrition, also participated in the information session. 

HKI-Mali celebrated World Sight Day at the National Institute of Public Health Research with the National Program for the Prevention of Blindness (PNLC), NGOs and international and national partners; the date coincided with the National Week for the Prevention of Blindness.  Distinguished guests at the event included Madame Touré Lobbo Traoré, First Lady of Mali, Madame Maiga Zeinab Mint Youba, Minister of Health, and Mr. Mandé Sidibé, former Prime Minister.  Additional activities in support of the PNLC were vision screenings at health centers and in schools, cataract surgeries, and print and radio advertisements.

HKI-Bangladesh promoted World Sight Day by writing an article, We need to do more to prevent blindness, that was published in Dhaka’s The Daily Star. To read the article >> click here.

From left to right: ChildSight®-Texas; HKI-Mexico; HKI-Mali.