World Sight Day 2021: How the eye care industry is celebrating #LoveYourEyes

Vision is one of life's greatest gifts, providing the opportunity to enjoy the azure skies, vibrant sunsets and the smiling, laughing faces of our children, spouses and other loved ones.

Today marks the 21st World Sight Day, an annual day of awareness, held on the second Thursday of October, to focus global attention on blindness and vision impairment. Coordinated by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), this year’s call is for everyone to “Love Your Eyes.”

As part of its efforts, the IAPB and its members are working together to increase public awareness on vision issues and blindness, calling for a focus on vision issues and eye health.

The IAPB launched its campaign over the summer in advance of World Sight Day to urge people to commit to vision screenings. As part of its campaign, it has been urging eye care professionals, including ophthalmologists and optometrists, to get involved.

“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 eye care services,” Peter Holland, CEO of IAPB said in a statement. “This is a global issue, but one that starts with us.”

Today, IAPB is promoting a global challenge to unite the world, bringing people across the globe together to have their eyes tested.

Answering the call, a number of groups and businesses are stepping up to promote vision.

OneSight, IAPB team up

OneSight is partnering with the IAPB and other vision care supporters who are committed to bringing vision care access to the 1.1 billion people worldwide who need it.

Leading up to today’s event, OneSight set a goal of executing 25,000 eye exams and vision screenings through vision clinics, sustainable vision centers and activities that will connect tens of thousands of people around the world to vision access and education.

According to K-T Overbey, president and executive director of OneSight, more than 1 billion people around the world lack access to vision care.

“This outage can hold individuals back from education, employment, and the ability to achieve their full potential,” Overbey said. “Eye exams and glasses act as powerful tools that can play a significant role in helping lift people out of poverty."

Overbey noted that the company is kicking off an integrated global initiative that will bring vision care to people all around the world.

“Everyone can help support this mission for both short-and long-term impact by donating time, skills or even just making a financial contribution,” Overbey said.

As part of its World Sight Day activities, OneSight has hosted vision programs to educate local communities on the importance of eye health and vision care, including vision clinics in Pittsburg, Pa.; Des Moines, Iowa; Kansas City, Mo.; and a clinic in Brooklyn, N.Y., which concludes on Sunday.

OneSight and the IAPB will host a vision screening today at the United Nations headquarters in New York, providing eye screenings and examinations to United Nations members.

Other initiatives OneSight has been promoting include the Framing the Future children’s campaign with Nickelodeon and the #ShareTheLove social media campaign.

OneSight also was among a group of global vision organisations launching a global landmark activation, where consumers across the world can see eye checks at some of the most recognisable landmarks around the world, from Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro and the London Tower Bridge to The Gateway to India and New York’s Brooklyn Bridge.

“While these landmarks represent some of the most recognisable sights in the world, more than 1 billion people globally lack the ability to see them clearly,” Overbey said. “This vision care gap can hold individuals back from education, employment and the ability to achieve their full potential.”

According to OneSight, to date, more than 471,443 eye checks/eye exams have been committed.

In the weeks leading up to World Sight Day, Alcon is among the companies to be active in promoting vision care.

Alcon in Action

Alcon, through its Dallas-Fort Worth-based American headquarters, conducted free eye exams for children at Clifford Davis Elementary and screenings at other local schools as part of Alcon in Action, a companywide day of community volunteering.

Prevent Blindness offers three steps

Prevent Blindness invites everyone to take three sight-saving steps for themselves, for others and for their communities by scheduling an eye exam for themselves; donating to organisations to help fund sight-saving services; and by urging members of Congress to support vision and eye health policies by becoming a part of the Congressional Vision Caucus.

As part of World Sight Day, Prevent Blindness is partnering with leading companies on social media-based awareness and fundraising programs, including Zenni, an online eyewear retail leader, will donate $1 per share of every Zenni #WorldSightDay Instagram post to @prevent_blindness, up to $15,000. Followers are encouraged to share the post, with #LoveYourEyes and tell how they prioritise their eye health.

Prevent Blindness also is partnering with Horizon Therapeutics, which will donate $1, up to $5,000, for every like or share of their new thyroid eye disease awareness video, “#LoveYourEyes, Know Your Risks.”

"World Sight Day offers an incredible opportunity to continue to educate the public about the importance of good vision, the need for equitable access to eye care, and the benefits of continued vision research," said Jeff Todd, president and CEO of Prevent Blindness. “We also thank our generous partners for their commitment and support of our programs which make a difference in the vision health of Americans every day.”

Orbis presents PSA

Orbis International is marking World Sight Day with a number of initiatives, including a 30-second public service announcement titled “See What You’d Miss,” which focuses on why it’s important to get your eyes checked and is being shared on broadcast and social media channels.

According to Orbis, there is a common misconception that eye exams are only for getting a pair of glasses. To dispel that myth, the company is promoting accessible and proper vision care around the globe by providing training to all types of healthcare workers and by educating communities about their eye health

Global Eye Health Survey

Johnson & Johnson Vision has completed its Global Eye Health Survey, finding that while people are not taking measures to keep their eyes healthy and protect their vision, sight remains the sense people fear losing the most.

According to the company, 70 percent of adults do not plan to get their eyes examined this year, despite acknowledging the critical importance of eye health. These new findings come from a comprehensive, large-scale Johnson & Johnson Vision Global Eye Health Survey announced in advance of World Sight Day.

This year’s survey revealed key insights around the impact of the pandemic on eye health, misbeliefs about vision correction options for ageing eyes, the intersection between eye health and beauty, and the high potential for missed early intervention for children with vision correction needs.

Serving as the cornerstone of J&J Vision’s “Prioritise Your Eyes” campaign, the survey was launched in advance of World Sight Day in an effort to raise awareness about the importance of getting an annual eye exam, both for adults and children alike.

Shlomi Nachman, group chairman, Cardiovascular and Specialty Solutions Group and Johnson & Johnson Vision, said the company is committed to changing the trajectory of eye health, and that starts with getting an annual comprehensive eye exam.

“This year’s survey shows that, globally only 3 in 10 people have scheduled or plan to schedule an annual eye exam as eye care offices have reopened,” Nachman said.

Nachman noted that a goal of the “Prioritise Your Eyes” campaign is to highlight the importance of seeing an ophthalmologist or optometrist regularly for eye health.

The survey found that 86 percent of the world’s adult population fear losing their sight above any other sense. It is likely for this reason that globally, 88 percent of people view eye health maintenance a priority for their overall health.

Despite recognising the importance of vision and eye health, only 52 percent of respondents say they get annual eye exams.

Eye health and the pandemic

The Johnson & Johnson survey reveals more than one-third of respondents believe their vision has deteriorated since the start of the pandemic. However, despite this reported awareness, 70 percent of all respondents said they do not plan to schedule an eye exam in the year ahead—the single most important step to protect your eyes.

Survey results show that although three-in-four (75 percent) parents indicate they believe it is more important for their child to receive an eye exam than it is for them—and the majority (61%) of parents indicate they’re concerned about their children being diagnosed as nearsighted (myopic)—only one-quarter (27 percent) plan to schedule an annual eye exam for their children.

Beauty and eye health

Astonishingly one-in-four respondents (27 percent) indicated they’re more concerned about how their eyes look than the health of their eyes. Nearly 30 percent of respondents indicated they would change the colour of their eyes for a day if they could.

For those with ageing eyes, three in 10 (29 percent) worry wearing glasses will make them look old or impacts their self-confidence (30 percent), yet only 37 percent of respondents know contact lenses are available as an alternative to multifocal glasses as they age.

Don’t wait on cataracts

Moreover, 72% of respondents who had a cataract surgery said if they would have known how much better their vision would be after cataract surgery, they would have done it sooner. And 56% did not realise how bad their vision was until after surgery.

With 94 million people affected by cataracts worldwideⁱ the survey revealed that people may be delaying cataract treatment due to misbeliefs about the procedure. Less than half of all respondents (46%) realised cataract surgery is outpatient and only 31% realised the procedure can take less than 10 minutes to perform.

CooperVision initiatives

CooperVision is marking World Sight Day with a new video highlighting the prevalence of myopia among children.

In the video, which will goes live today, Dan McBride, president of CooperVision, and Juan Carlos Aragón, OD, president of CooperVision Specialty EyeCare, discuss the company’s myopia management portfolio, as well as its partnership with the World Council of Optometry to help drive a standard of care for myopia management.

The company will focus on the “Love Your Eyes" theme with posts on the CooperVision Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn channels.

To raise advocacy, awareness, and knowledge of the importance of proper eye health services in schools, CooperVision also has made a $40,000 investment to support IAPB’s 2022 forthcoming Focus on School Eye Health Initiative, which is composed of a series of webinars, events, blog posts, and video content.

CooperVision also is holding events at its offices around the globe to raise money for World Sight Day.

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