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Seva and its partners recently organized an inaugural Gender and Eye Health advocacy event on April 30th in Washington, DC. The group explored the links between gender and blindness, poverty, disability, and education and the proven strategies that can address these gaps.
Two-thirds of the 45 million blind people in the world are female, yet women receive less than half of eye care services. Moreover, 80% of these cases are preventable or treatable forms of blindness. For 30 years Seva programs have made a special effort to reach women and girls and it was a pleasure to share our strategies and successes in this area.
The goal of the Gender and Eye Health advocacy partnership is to build a strong base of support to address this important global issue. The blindness prevention community has identified excellent programs that have begun to successfully address this gender inequity in the health care industry. Programs that have inspiring stories to share and opportunities to build upon established successes. This initiative is coordinated with the World Health Organization's VISION 2020 campaign to eliminate unnecessary blindness.
Success in reducing gender inequity will lead to more women and girls receiving sight-restoring or sight-preserving services and will significantly increase the quality of life for the women and girls being served, their families and communities. The impact? — Millions of women and girls who would otherwise remain blind would be able to attend school, return to work, and care for their families.
Seva and partners have succeeded in making "Gender and Blindness" the focus of the World Health Organization's annual World Sight Day, which will be held on October 8, 2009. To learn more about this year's World Sight Day events, please visit www.v2020.org/gender.
Be a part of the solution! You can support Seva's work and bring eye care services to women and girls around the world by making an online donation.
