About 153-million poor people with vision problems such as short sight have no access to basic eye care, causing missed educational and work opportunities, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday.
The United Nations agency said a simple sight test and glasses or contact lenses could dramatically improve children’s prospects at school and their parents’ job successes across the developing world.
”Individuals and families are frequently pushed into a cycle of deepening poverty because of their inability to see well,” the WHO said in a statement released ahead of World Sight Day on Thursday.
In addition to those with unchecked refractive errors, of whom 90% live in low- and middle-income countries, the agency said another 161-million people suffer from eye diseases such as cataracts, glaucoma and others causing blindness. – Reuters