LONDON—With 100 days to go until World Sight Day 2021, the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) and its members yesterday announced "Love Your Eyes" as the theme for this year’s World Sight Day, which falls on October 14, 2021. IAPB has been joined by six World Sight Day Global Partners this year: Allergan, Bayer, Novartis, OneSight, Seva Foundation and World Council of Optometry. Starting in September, IAPB plans to get over 1 million eye tests pledged in the month leading up to World Sight Day and is asking individuals, eyecare professionals, hospitals, NGOs and businesses to get involved. Then, on World Sight Day, IAPB will host a global challenge to unite the world, bringing people across the globe together to have their eyes tested.
The aim is to demonstrate the importance of taking care of our own eye health and to highlight the work still to be done in achieving access to eyecare services for everyone.
Peter Holland, CEO of IAPB said, “Almost everyone on the planet will experience an eye health issue in their lifetime, yet more than a billion people worldwide do not have access to eyecare services. This is a global issue, but one that starts with us. This World Sight Day, October 14th, we are calling on everyone who is able, to book a sight test, an exam, or a screening to check on their wellbeing of their eyes. We are asking people to pledge their tests as part of our Everyone Counts initiative.”
More information about this year’s World Sight Day, including toolkits, logos and social media assets are available on the IAPB website.