Preventing avoidable blindness

Today, October 14 marks World Sight Day. We often tend to forget the importance of sight or eyesight which is the most important sense of the human body. Without eyesight, one will live forever in mystery without knowing what the surroundings look like. Eighty per cent of what we perceive comes though the sense of sight. International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) has chosen the slogan ‘Love your eyes’ for this year’s World Sight Day making us realise the importance of sight and taking care of our eyes.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), more than 2.2. billion people, a quarter of the world’s population, have a visual impairment. Over half of this vision loss is preventable or treatable, but a lack of quality eye care services means that many people don’t get the care they need.

Four times as many people are affected in vision impairment in low- and middle-income countries. And in Bangladesh there are an estimated 27 million people with vision loss in 2020. Of these, almost a million (0.95 million) are blind (Source: IAPB Vision Atlas).

We do know Bangladesh is one of the world’s most densely populated countries, what we do not know it also has one of the highest rates of untreated cataracts worldwide. Extreme poverty and a lack of awareness about health issues mean more than half a million people are thought to be blind as a result of cataracts. It means Bangladesh is facing an eye care crisis and without immediate action thousands of our citizens will needlessly lose their vision or go blind. We need a strong and continued effort to improve eye health services. But this is not always a topic that gets the attention it deserves.

Access to quality eye care has a hugely positive impact on all areas of people’s lives. It can increase people’s ability to learn and work, which can directly lead to reductions in poverty and hunger and improve well-being. Poor eye care provision also affects economics. Globally, it is estimated that the productivity loss of visual impairment and blindness is $410.7 billion each year (Source: The Lancet).

The losses come from a range of causes, including reduced productivity in industries where good vision makes a difference, and the simple fact that many children who can’t see properly are never tested, and so have problems at school.

Bangladesh has something to be proud of while celebrating this year’s World Sight Day. On the 23rd of July 2021, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted the ‘Vision for Everyone; accelerating action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals‘ resolution committing the international community to eye health for the 1.1 billion people living with preventable sight loss by 2030. The resolution was unanimously adopted by all 193 countries of the United Nations.

This process was driven by the Friends of Vision group. The Friends of Vision group of United Nations Member States consists of country representatives, including at Ambassador level, from more than 50 countries. The Friends of Vision is chaired by Ambassador Rabab Fatima of Bangladesh, Ambassador Aubrey Webson of Antigua and Barbuda, and Ambassador Byrne Nason of Ireland.

Bangladesh played an active role as a chair of the Friends of Vision group and actively advocated to UN Member States for the adoption of the resolution. The adoption of this resolution, and the committee through which it was adopted, makes it clear that eye health is a priority development and human rights issue. It moves eye health beyond a solely health issue and recognises “the important contribution that the promotion of eye health can make to accelerating action towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

This resolution is significant as it is the first to link eye care to the broader SDG agenda beyond SDG 3- Good Health and Wellbeing. It specifically references eye care in links to Goal 1 (No poverty), Goal 2 (Zero Hunger), Goal 4 (Quality Education), Goal 5 (Gender Equality), Goal 8 (Decent work and economic growth), Goal 10 (Reduced Inequalities) and Goal 11 (Sustainable Cities and communities).

With the resolution passed by the UNGA, it is that this World Sight Day has got a new dimension and brings up with a greater scope of work for the nations to deliver in terms of inclusion, education, equality, economic growth and sustainable development. It is a matter of pride of us to see a Bangladeshi Ambassador lead the whole process at the global stage, however, it is also equally important that we now deliver at the national level. In Bangladesh, hundreds of thousands of our citizens are at the risk of needlessly losing their vision or going blind if immediate action is not taken. First, there is a huge need to raise greater eye health awareness across the country.

The delivery network of the eye health services should be extended up to the primary schools so that our children can grow up having their eyes tested and learning more about it. A majority of the developed and developing countries are following this system. And as Bangladesh is graduating from the list of the least developed countries (LDCs) to become a middle-income country, it is important that we can eliminate avoidable blindness to enlighten the vision of the entire population.

We need to make sure everyone, everywhere can access the eye health services they need. Every single one of us has a part to play in making it happen, from governments, to healthcare workers, to donors and supporters. Only if everyone plays their part no-one can be left behind.

The writer is a development practitioner