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Celebrating World Sight Day, 10 October 2024

Posted on: Wednesday, October 2nd, 2024
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Hadiza, wearing purple glasses, looks into the camera.

This World Sight Day, CBM UK is helping to focus the world’s attention on the importance of eyecare. The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) organise World Sight Day each year, with IAPB members (like CBM) standing together to raise awareness of the importance of eye healthcare.

Worldwide, three out of four people who are blind don’t need to be. At CBM we believe that everyone deserves the chance to see the world clearly, and so together with our local partners, we are improving sight across some of the world’s poorest places. 

Hadiza

When we met Hadiza from Nigeria, she was just three years old. Both of Hadiza’s parents have been blind since they were young. Living in extreme poverty, they have to rely on support from their friends and family. 

Hadiza’s parents wanted a better future for their daughter. When they discovered she had cataracts they feared that she would face the same challenges as them. Hadiza’s father told us: “We dream of Hadiza going to school and building a bright future for herself.” 

Thanks to CBM UK’s wonderful supporters, Hadiza was able to have cataract surgery at our partner hospital, ECWA, at no cost to her family. Afterwards, she needed glasses to correct her vision, which she was also able to access through our project. Together, we are changing lives across the world and giving children like Hadiza a better future. 

CBM’s sight-saving work 

1.1 billion people worldwide experience vision loss primarily because they don’t have access to eye healthcare services when they need them, where they need them. And over 90% of people with uncorrected vision loss live in low- and middle- income countries. 

We know that eye health is not an optional extra. CBM wants to create a world where everyone has eye healthcare that is accessible, available and affordable. For the past 115 years, alongside our local partners, we have been providing sight-saving surgeries, treatments and glasses to improve sight across some of the world’s poorest places.  

CBM’s Impact 

Last year, as part of CBM Global, our work enabled more than: 

  • 1.9 million people to be screened or examined for eye diseases  
  • 713,000 people to be treated for blinding diseases like trachoma, river blindness and glaucoma 
  • 122,000 sight-restoring cataract operations to be carried out 

Find out more about our sight-saving work here.

World Sight Day is organised by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, of which CBM is a member.

World Sight Day 2024 logo

Header image: Hadiza at ECWA Eye Hospital in Nigeria. CBM Global/Nelson Owoicho