Operation Eyesight Calls For Canada To Be A Leader In Eye Health Care

Operation Eyesight Universal, a Canada-based international non-governmental organization dedicated to eliminating avoidable blindness, supports Vision2020 Canada's call for a national vision health strategy.


"Canada can be a world leader by not only having our own national vision health plan, but by encouraging developing countries to ensure that eye care is part of their national health policy," says Pat Ferguson, president and CEO of Operation Eyesight. "Avoidable blindness is a global issue. By bringing it to the attention of donor countries like Canada, we can help eliminate avoidable blindness in developing countries, where 90 percent of the world's visually impaired people live."


About 284 million people worldwide are visually impaired: 39 million are blind and 245 million have low vision.


Vision2020 Canada chair John M. Rafferty urged party leaders last Friday to make vision health a priority in Canada's current election.


Operation Eyesight has worked to eliminate avoidable blindness for almost 50 years. It currently operates in India and the African countries of Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda and Zambia-places where blindness can be deadly, especially to those who are young, old or poor. The organization works directly with medical professionals, communities and governments in Africa and India to build their capacity to provide quality eye care and sustainable community development for their own people.


Source:

Operation Eyesight Universal