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Did you know that glaucoma accounts for between 9-12% of all causes of blindness and affects an estimated 2% of the world’s population?
As age increases, so does the likelihood of contracting glaucoma and regular eye examinations is of the utmost importance to monitor the health of your eyes.
World Glaucoma Week, taking place from 8-14 March, is a global joint initiative between the World Glaucoma Association (WGA) and the World Glaucoma Patient Committee (WGPC), in order to raise awareness on glaucoma.
Through a series of engaging worldwide activities, patients, eye-care providers, health officials and the general public are invited to contribute to sight preservation. The goal is to alert everyone to have regular eye checks in order to detect glaucoma as early as possible.
Each year, World Glaucoma Week adopts a common theme adapted to local conditions and countries to assist in both raising more awareness on a countrywide level and unifying global message into local culture.
Glaucoma usually gives no warning until it is advanced and the damage that it can cause to vision is ongoing and has the potential to become irreversible. Fortunately, for many patients, treatment can prevent further damage, meaning that early diagnosis is key to halting the disease. World Glaucoma Week aims to reinforce the importance of regular eye checks, which allow earlier detection and, hence, saved sight.
The initiative aims to share successes so that the general public and practitioners across the world are better able to learn from one another and be even more effective in reaching the goal; the elimination of glaucoma blindness.
For further details about who is at risk, what are the symptoms, and how glaucoma can be treated, both patients and public may visit www.worldglaucomaweek.org.
