NEW YORK—The optical industry is once again gearing up for World Sight Day 2016 which falls on Oct. 13 this year. While many companies, organizations and practices have individual events planned to promote the World Sight Day Challenge, digital initiatives and social media are playing a big part in the promotion of vision care and eye health.

Optometry Giving Sight is leading a coalition of North American optometric companies, networks, schools and practices during the 10th annual World Sight Day Challenge. Along with all of these efforts, a highlight of this year’s campaign will be a Twitter Chat that is being coordinated by AllAboutVision.com as a part of its week-long “Share for Sight” social media campaign to promote the importance of child eye health and projects funded by Optometry Giving Sight.

The Twitter Chat will run from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. PST on Thursday, Oct. 13. All tweets must include the #ShareForSight hashtag in order to post correctly in the chat stream.

Clive Miller, CEO of Optometry Giving Sight said, “This is the 10th year of the Challenge, which encourages all members of the vision care community to make a donation or participate in a fundraising event to help fund sustainable eye health projects for people who are needlessly blind or vision impaired. This year will have a specific focus on the need for effective, sustainable eye health initiatives for children and adolescents as part of the Our Children’s Vision campaign.

OneSight, an independent global nonprofit 501(c)(3) founded and sponsored by Luxottica that is dedicated to providing sustainable access to a comprehensive eye exam and quality eyewear to those in need around the world will be launching its #UNBLUR campaign.

The campaign is a digital movement seeking to unite people around the world to show first-hand what lack of access to vision care looks like and how impactful receiving a pair of glasses really is. #UNBLUR will be raising advocacy and funds to help provide eye exams and glasses to the 1.1 billion people around the world who need glasses but lack access.

OneSight is encouraging everyone to join the #UNBLUR movement by:

  • Donating $10 at www.onesight.org/donate; $10 can help provide a pair of glasses to a person in need.
  • Watching and sharing the #UNBLUR 360 virtual reality video at www.onesight.org/unblur to see how clear sight can empower someone.
  • Joining the #UNBLUR Twitter Party on Oct. 13 at 2 p.m. EST (11 a.m. PST) to be a part of the global conversation.

In conjunction with this year’s World Sight Day, Essilor is launch the “Love to See Change” campaign which encourages people everywhere to commit to having their eyes checked. For each pledge that is taken, Essilor will donate $1 to a selection of initiatives that are brining good vision to underprivileged or underserved populations.

“Having your eyes checked on a yearly basis is fundamental to protect the most important sense we have as human beings: our sight,” Jayanth Bhuvaraghan, Essilor’s chief mission officer said. “At Essilor, we are committed to vision health for all, including the 2.5 billion people in the world who do not have the vision correction they need. Through this pledge, we hope to encourage everyone to commit to love their eyes, spread the word and join us in creating the change that is needed for the whole world to see clearly.”

People can go to www.lovetoseechange.com, a dedicated website available in six languages, to support the campaign by taking the pledge. The campaign kicks off on Oct. 13 and will run to the end of the year.